I Don't Hate You
by PartyOnTheMoon
Summary: When Hermione and Draco land in detention together, they thought it would be a disaster. Little did they realize, it was more meaningful than intended. Hermione/Draco CHAPTER 18 up...7/11/08
1. Chapter 1

**I Don't Hate You**

summary: So we know already that Griffindor and Slytherin are the two competing houses in Hogwarts. But a little too much time together and sparks seem to fly between two people in the opposing houses...(HermionexDraco)

characters: HermionexDracoxRon, HarryxGinny

**A/N: Okay, so really, I may not be the biggest Harry Potter fan in the world, but I'm so freakin' obsessed, that I just had to share with you this story that I've been working on. I hope you like it! (and if you don't then please tell me why with constructive criticism; you can flame me, but really, you're wasting your breath because I don't respond to those). I accept anonymous reviews as well, so please, feel free to tell me what you think!**

Disclaimer: I don't own anything about Harry Potter...and if I did, then I'd definitely had changed some things bout Deathly Hallows (won't say what for those who didn't get a chance to read/finish).

**Chapter 1**

"Mum, are we there yet?" 16-year-old Hermione Granger pressured for the millionth time as she stuck her face to the window.

"No, not yet dear," Mrs. Granger said with a laugh. "What's your hurry to get back so soon?"

"I really miss my friends," She admitted truthfully.

She would've elaborated on this, but she didn't dare open her mouth to tell her parents about the Ministry of Magic incident (she had destroyed the letters sent home just in time). If she told her parents that her friend's dad was attacked, her other friend's godfather had gotten killed and a dark, evil wizard had came back, then she would've been sent to a private school somewhere in the Muggle residence, or even move to America. She couldn't give up on Hogwarts yet, when she had so many more new spells to learn and O.W.L.S coming closer and closer.

"She's just eager to show off her new clothes," Mr. Granger teased as he grinned at his wife.

"Daddy..." Hermione groaned, her face flushing.

Hermione had a dramatic change this year involving her looks. She decided over the summer she would care about her appearance more, and she started off with getting a bit more sophisticated with her clothes, so she wore a new outfit she had bought: a nice light pink blazer with a white blouse underneath, some tight blue jean capris and some light pink sandals. Her hair, however, was just as brown and bushy as it had ever been (she still didn't want to bother to straighten it), but Hermione made it look more managed by putting it in a ponytail, a pink ribbon to match her blazer.

"The guys won't care, they don't like me like that," she insisted.

"Sure they don't," Mrs. Granger told her. Hermione groaned as Mrs. Granger laughed. She hated the way her mom teased sometimes.

Several minutes later, trunks in hand, Hermione found herself in Diagon Alley. She took a deep breath, and sighed, smiling around at everything as a cool breeze whipped around her. _Good old wizarding world..._she was really anxious to get back to Hogwarts now. She scanned around for any signs of her friends, and sadly, she didn't see them yet.

"Well, I guess we'll have to shop first then," she said aloud.

With her parents close behind, Hermione decided to go into Madam Malkin's first so that she could get the most time consuming task out the way. On her way inside, she was rammed hard in a shoulder by a tall blonde boy who seemed mad and in a hurry to go.

"Ow!"

"Watch where you're going!" the blonde boy snapped, turning around to look at the person he hit. "Can't you see that-"

"I'm sorry!" Hermione said quickly as she turned to look at the boy, and stared back at him. "Nevermind, I take that back," she added bitterly.

Draco Malfoy was at a loss for words for a moment as he took in Hermione's appearance with his eyes. Yes, he was surprised that she had new clothes, changing from her usual shirt and jeans. He even noticed that she tied her hair back, which she had always worn it down and looking as if she had come out of a struggle with a hair brush.

Finally composing himself, he smirked at the girl. "Granger. Took you long enough to even look halfway decent."

Hermione frowned at him, though she was wondering why he had looked at her like that. She did notice that Malfoy was taller, and more muscular. His tight black t-shirt gave the impression of bulging muscles, threatening to rip out of their confinement. His hair was still slicked back, the same as ever, and his additude, just as rotten as molded food in a refridgerator.

The words flowed out of her mouth before she could even think about them. "Well at least my family is halfway decent."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed evilly. "At least I'm not a Mudblood," He said smartly.

"At least my parents aren't wanted by Azkaban and Voldemort," Hermione retorted back.

Malfoy's eyes widened slightly as he heard the dark wizard's name called out casually out of her mouth.

"Think you're brave now, huh Granger?" he said quietly. "Well, not to worry, because he'll be after you soon enough."

"You said that three years ago, and nothing's changed." Hermione scoffed. "Why don't you ask your parents for the truth? they are his assistants after all."

She never knew she had that kind of power in her mouth, and Draco apparently didn't either. He was certainly shocked by what he was hearing, and he couldn't help but stare at her in awe as two tall red-haired boys came up behind the bushy-haired girl.

"Why ya staring so hard Malfoy?" Fred Weasley said, grinning at the blonde.

"W-what do you mean?" Malfoy said, his cheeks growing red. _Dammit, why am I blushing? IN PUBLIC?_

"Little makeover starting to get to you?" George Weasley asked, winking. "Trying to get her, huh?"

"Never!" Malfoy snapped. "I'll never like a mudblood!" with that, he stalked away angrily, storming threats in his head. _Who do they think they are...oh, wait till they get to Hogwarts!_

Hermione watched Draco stomp away, then turned to the Weasley twins, grinning. "Thanks, you guys."

"No prob, Hermy," Fred said with a smile. "You're looking awfully pretty today," he added as his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"Thank you." she began to blush. She glanced behind them and saw another tall-red haired boy with a raven-haired boy and a small red-haired girl walking her way, the people that she had expected to see more than anything. She squealed and rushed past the Weasley twins.

"Ron! Harry! Ginny!"

Harry saw her coming and opened his arms, smiling wide. She threw herself in them, nearly knocking the pair of them over.

"Hi to you too, Hermione," he said with a laugh.

Hermione then hugged Ginny with the same force. Then she pulled away and looked up at Ron, whom over the summer had grown tall and numerous freckles. "Hi Ron!" she said happily.

"Hey, Hermione." Ron grinned at her. "You, um..." Like Fred, his cheeks went pink. "You look..."

"Look great," Harry finished for him.

"I'm told," said Hermione, grinning.

"What was Malfoy doing this time?" Ginny asked her. "We saw you when we came out of Madam Malkins, well, more like Fred and George pointing us out."

Hermione told them the exchange of words she had with the fellow Slytherin, and they were open-mouthed by the end.

"That's not like you!" Harry said, impressed.

Hermione knew it wasn't like her too. You could call it hormone changing if you wanted to, but she had definitely changed this year. There was no more stepping on Hermione Granger. She wasn't gonna back down to anybody, or let anyone talk to her any kind of way. Of course it was uncharacteristic behavior for the girl who used to run away from the problems, and rely on her friends to bail her out of trouble. But there was so much a girl could take, and enough was enough.

She smiled at everyone. "Wait till he discovers this!" she held up a shiny new prefect badge high in the air for everyone to see.

"Nope, he's a prefect too," Ginny told her, "I saw him showing off his badge to Crabbe and Goyle a few minutes ago."

"What's with all these prefects?" Fred said as he and George came up to the bunch. "Ron's a prefect," said Fred, "and we only hope that Ginny would join us so we won't be lonely."

Ginny made a face, and everyone laughed.

"You guys should've seen the way Malfoy was looking at Hermione, like she was some sort of goddess," George told them.

"No he wasn't!" Hermione said hastily, looking away.

"Better watch out Hermione," Harry warned her. "Don't want to get associated with the enemy, let alone let him fall for you..."

"He'd never fall for Hermione!" Ginny exclaimed.

"She's right you know," Hermione agreed, "I'm a filthy little Mudblood. I'd never see myself liking _him_."

Little did the two enemies realize, that they would like each other alot more than they thought they would.

**So the first chapter isn't really progressive but believe me, the story will move on (I have thirteen other chapters waiting to be viewed). Tell me what you think, and I'll be back with a second!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I Don't Hate You**

**A/N: Welcome back to the second chapter. I cannot believe all the feedback I recieved last chapter, that's like the most reviews I've ever had for one chapter. I guess this pairing is a big hit (considering it's pretty much my first Harry Potter fanfic). Thank you to those who reviewed last chapter. This may be one of the longest stories I've ever written (let's just say you have eleven, possibly more, chapters to enjoy). **

**I'm gonna be honest with you. The first three chapters are very basic, and it won't be until chapter four before some juicy things start to happen...(maniacal laughter). Okay I'm weird, leave me alone. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and keep reviewing because I write more for you guys! (but mostly myself too).**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter...(obviously)**

**Chapter 2**

"Hermione, what's with the change of heart?" Ron asked her for the millionth time as they boarded the Hogwarts Express.

"Can you stop asking that every second?" Hermione said to him, exasperated. She waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and headed towards the prefect carriage.

"I'm sorry, but I'm still amazed," Ron told her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Honestly Ron. I haven't changed that much." _At least, I don't think so_ she added in an afterthought.

The two sat down in the prefects compartment to relax a while before they started their patrol. Hermione gave one last wave to her parents before sitting down and watching outside the window as the Hogwarts Express led them to some beautiful grassy scenery.

"You know, Hermione, I think you look rather ugly," Ron stated suddenly. "As always."

Hermione whipped her head toward him in surprise. "W-what?"

"I thought you were gonna explode on me, seeing as you've contacted your alter ego," Ron told her.

Hermione groaned loudly as the door to the compartment opened up to a boy and a girl she thought she wouldn't have to see at all on the train.

Draco smirked as he saw Hermione. "Oh, its Weasel and the Mudblood." He still had a bitter taste in his mouth from what she said about his parents. Sure, it was true that they were Death Eaters, but it was completely out of line to talk about them like that.

Pansy Parkinson looked Hermione up and down. "Wow, you actually made an attempt to look better," she sneered.

Hermione looked up at her with disgust. "and I see that you really didn't try hard enough."

Draco raised his eyebrows at Hermione. He had to admit, he found himself less annoyed with the girl and more impressed by her change of personality. Still, he didn't like her because...well, she was a Mudblood, and he wasn't.

"Come on Pansy," he said, tugging at her arm. "Mudbloods aren't worth the time."

Ron stood up but Hermione grabbed at his arm as Pansy and Malfoy left, snickering to themselves.

"They'll get theirs soon," she reassured him, standing up. "Come on, lets go see how Harry's doing."

The two walked past a few open compartment doors. Hermione was surprised to see many guys looking after her. All she did was change her clothes and tie her hair up...did she really look that much different? She got her answer as soon as she met up with the others.

"Hey guys!" Hermione greeted as her and Ron stepped into the compartment with Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Ginny and Harry. "You guys tell me...I mean, besides the clothes and the ribbon, do I look any different?"

"Yes," Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna all said at the same time. Ron however, had a different opinion.

"You look like the same Hermione to me," he said to her.

"Ron! that's not what you said a while ago..." Ginny sing-songed to him.

Hermione raised her eyebrows as she turned to Ron, who's ears were a bright red. "What did you say?" she asked, grinning.

"I didn't say anything," Ron told her hastily, glaring at Ginny.

Hermione had a feeling he was lying, especially when he refused to look, or speak with her for the remainder of the trip.

---------------

As soon as Hermione and the others stepped inside Hogwarts, Ron decided to speak again.

"I'm so hungry right now..." he moaned, clamping a hand on his stomach, which had been rumbling loudly.

"Don't worry, it won't take long to sort out the first years," Hermione said soothingly.

"Hope not," Harry said grumpily.

The three arrived in the Great Hall amongst the older students. Hermione struggled to get into the Dining hall when a big force to her shoulder sent her crashing into Ron.

"Oops! sorry Granger!" Draco called to her, snickering with Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle as they passed by. "Good thing Weasley broke your fall. Why don't you two get a room and take that somewhere else?"

Hermione looked around and saw that she was on top of Ron in the most awkward of positions. Fred and George made sure that they were noticed by cat-calling and wolf-whistling as loudly as they could. With a beet red face, she quickly got of Ron and headed inside the Dining Hall to find Harry and Ginny sitting together.

"What's the matter?" Ginny asked her as she took her seat. "You look so red!"

"You don't want to know," Hermione muttered as Professor McGonagall was bringing out the Sorting Hat.

Sorting didn't take long since there wasn't as many first years before but it still took a while. As soon as the Sorting Hat had been put away, it was Professor Dumbledore's turn to speak next. The Great Hall went silent as the old wizard stood before them.

"A new day, a new year," Dumbledore projected to the hundreds of eyes watching him. His eyes glittered mysteriously as a small smile appeared over his aged face. "It is my pleasure to welcome you, old and new, to Hogwarts: School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am honored to invite you to stay and enjoy what this school has to offer you, and hopefully, you will not be disappointed.

" For those of you who don't know, our prefects, or rather I say for some, our 'hall monitors', are made up of two fifth years from every house, a boy and a girl. This year, it is still the same but one thing. We were lucky enough to invest in a prefect's dormintory. The prefects chosen from each house will all share one single common room, but have their own seperate rooms and baths."

Hermione grinned over at Ron. "Can you believe that?"

"Not at all!" Ron said, looking especially overjoyed. "Dumbledore knew what I was planning. It's the perfect opportunity to kill Draco. Nobody will ever know."

Everyone laughed as Hermione nudged Ron playfully. Strangely enough, Malfoy, whom was a table over from the Griffindor side, had looked over directly at Ron and Hermione, who were looking at each other and giggling about something. As he watched, blocking out the rest of Dumbledore's speech, a strange feeling began to rise up in his stomach. For the first time, he felt himself being envious of the closeness of the two. He knew Hermione, Ron and Harry had been friends since the first year, and he had been friends with Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy for around the same time. The difference was, they weren't really people he could rely on personally, people whom he could enjoy himself around like the way Harry, Ron and Hermione spend their time together.

"Draco!"

Malfoy snapped out of his daze to look over at Pansy, who was looking at him worriedly. "Hmm?"

"You're not listening!" Pansy said impatiently.

"Oh," Malfoy muttered unconcernedly, averting his eyes back over at the Griffindor table. "what were you saying?"

"I was talking about the hole that I got in my shirt earlier, because of some stupid bird in the Owlery..." Pansy started to say, but then she faded off when she realized that she had yet again, lost Draco's attention. _What could be more important than this hole in my shirt?_ She crossed her arms as she followed his gaze, feeling a bubble of rage rise inside her as she found the target.

She waited until the food had popped on to the tables before snapping at him. "Why are you looking at her? that's the second time I've caught you!"

"What?" Malfoy tried his best to look bemused. "What are you talking about?"

"_Don't tell me you don't remember just a few hours ago when we were getting on the train behind her and that Weasley, and you were staring at her end!_" Pansy hissed.

"Oh stop fussing!" Draco snapped as he stood up. "Her ass is bigger than yours anyway!"

Crabbe and Goyle choked on their food as Pansy looked on the verge to tears. Malfoy, stuffing his mouth full to the capacity, headed out of the Great Hall angrily. Of course, he didn't mean to say the insult, he was just getting sick of Pansy always wanting him to look at her, and listen to what she had to say...she was duller than an unsharpened pencil, and he took that literally. There was only one thing she was good for, and one thing that he needed (or he felt he needed) at the moment.

With a side glance over at Hermione, he realized that she really had grown up a lot more than he'd expected her to (and he found that the statement he had blindly made to Pansy had been true after all). He smirked, hoping that it wouldn't all go to her head and she'd end up like Pansy, or he'd _really_ have to kill the both of them.

Hermione was busy stuffing her mouth with mashed potatoes when she saw Draco getting up and leaving a weeping Pansy and a snickering Crabbe and Goyle at the table to leave the Great Hall. What did he do? she wondered as she followed him with her eyes. As if he knew, he turned to look back at her, smirking before he went through the double doors.

What was that look about? Ah...oh well...Hermione thought with a slight shrug. It wasn't any of her business what had just happened, and she really didn't want to know what was running through his head at the moment.

By the time she and the others were full, it was time to leave. As their plates eventually vanished from the food, Dumbledore bid them goodnight and then released them. Hermione rose from the table gratefully and headed out the Great Hall, entering into the vast, spacious Entrance Hall.

"I guess this is where we part..." Hermione gave Harry a goodnight hug. "See you in Potions."

Harry, who looked sullen the moment dinner ended, now looked as though he had just ate a booger flavored Bertie Botts bean. "Yeah." He walked away with Ginny at his side.

"I feel so guilty leaving them," said Ron as he watched the two leave.

Hermione glanced at him and knew he was talking about the possible get together of Ginny and Harry, though, she knew that it was going to happen. It was obvious over the summer (at least, to what Ginny told her), that Harry was attracted to Ginny. So what was going to happen between her and Ron? They haven't fought at all since meeting each other at Diagon Alley, and they even kept the peace when they led the first years to where they were supposed to go.

"Well, I'm tired Ron, let's go," Hermione said sleepily after they had done their job. She led the way to the prefects dormintory, which was on the fourth floor. As soon as they got there, there was no way you could miss the entrance to the prefect dormintory. There was a giant gold bird glittering before them, similar to Dumbledore's office entrance. Hermione and Ron cautiously came up to it.

"I don't know the password..." Hermione groaned.

"I do!" Ron said pompously as he turned to the bird. "Fudge sickle."

On cue, a staircase slowly began to revolve into view as the statue remained still. Hermione and Ron stared at it in awe as the staircase nearly came into view. Finally, it stopped moving, revealing grey, shiny marble concrete below them.

"Ladies first," Ron said, gesturing his hand towards the staircase.

"Why thank you!" Hermione said with a smile as she walked ahead of Ron. It was only a short trip up when the two finally got into the prefect's common room. It looked just like the Griffindor common room, only bigger and had a glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling with very rich looking furniture, not antique. The scene would've been perfect if it hadn't been for two people laid out across the huge couch, making out as if there were no tomorrow.

"Draco...ooh, that tickles..." Pansy giggled as Draco continued to kiss her neck. She looked around at the approaching footsteps and saw that Hermione and Ron were standing only a few feet away, looking disgusted. "Oh, _they're_ here..."

"Who cares?" Draco said, who was panting slightly. "Let them watch...maybe they'd... learn something."

Hermione rolled her eyes heavily before turning to Ron, blocking out the vision of Draco and Pansy kissing. "Well Ron, I guess this is goodnight."

"Yeah," Ron said with a look of disgust on his face. "See you tomorrow Hermione." He watched as she headed to her dormintory, flicking his eyes back over to the scene, wishing that it was only him and Hermione on that couch instead of the fellow Slytherins.

**Hmmm, Ron's mind seemed to be in the gutter, huh? I'm gonna be honest with you, I hate the first few chapters of the story, lol. To me, chapter four and all down after that are the most interesting chapters...and we'll be getting there if you keep reading! again, thank you for the reviews, keep them coming!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome back to the third chapter! It won't be long now before Draco and Hermione start being nice to each other...until then, please stick around, because it only gets better and better! (at least I hope so!)**

**Chapter 3**

Malfoy woke up the next morning on good terms, considering that he had just ended the night doing more than just kissing with Pansy. Getting up with a smile, he stretched, wondering how they managed not to wake up the others. Ah well, its not like he cared anyway. He got ready to get dressed so he could meet his fellow Slytherins in potions first thing in the morning. Finishing up, he went down to the common room to wait for Pansy, only to discover Hermione coming out of Ron's dormintory, fixing her robes.

"What were _you two_ doing?" Malfoy asked curiously.

"None of your business!" Hermione snapped, glaring at him.

Malfoy smirked. He noticed that her hair, though still bushy, looked neater than ever as it as tied in a low ponytail. "Wow. You actually have ears," he teased, his eyes on the glittery butterfly earrings hanging out of them.

"I wish I didn't," Hermione muttered as she leaned against the wall. "Then I wouldn't have to listen to you." she wished Ron would hurry up. She had went up to the dormintory to wake him up (though she was barely dressed herself), and now it was gonna take him forever to get ready.

Malfoy shook his head. "You keep talking Granger. I'm telling you, that mouth is gonna land you somewhere you wouldn't want to be."

"You know, you should practice what you preach," Hermione retorted just as Ron came down the stairs.

"Everything okay?" he asked, eyeing Malfoy.

"Don't worry Weasley, I'm not trying to take your girl. Like I ever would." Draco casually leaned against the wall.

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione tugged on his robes anxiously. He closed his mouth, gave Draco a menacing look instead and the both of them left the common room.

"I should've said something," Ron said angrily. "He nearly kept me up last night, him and Pansy..."

"Me too," Hermione agreed, "But you know what? they're just trying to get under our skin, as usual. Just don't cave into it."

The two headed towards Potions and ended up seeing Harry there, saving them seats. A few minutes later, Severus Snape, Potions teacher and Head of Slytherin, came into the room and the class began.

"Today, we will be learning the basis of making a potion known as the Commander potion," Snape began to say. "This potion was designed in the late 1700s towards torturing what they thought were witches and wizards. One who created it would make the desired witch or wizard drink it, and from then on the witch or wizard was not only controlled by the potion giver, but given the will of constant truth-telling for 72 hours. If caught disobeying commands, the sensation of being burned will occur."

"Now, who knows the main ingredients?"

As usual, Hermione's hand shot up. Draco rolled his eyes as he glanced at her. Did she always have to answer a question? at least he was looking forward to cheating off her work, as he usually did.

"Anyone other than Granger?" said Snape.

"You asked a question, I have an answer," Hermione said smartly.

"You _always_ seem to have an answer," Snape told her. "One can't possibly know it all."

"Well, one can't possibly subsitute past grudges for the present," Hermione retorted back.

Harry, who in particular knew what she was talking about, eyed Ron nervously.

"Ten points from Griffindor, Miss Granger," Snape said quietly, his eyes narrowing.

Hermione scoffed. "Like it matters," she said coldly.

"Then maybe _fifty _points would make it matter," Snape assured her.

Hermione would've lost fifty points just then if she had not put her hand down to keep the rest of the Griffindors from hissing at her. The next several minutes that Snape talked, though, she refused to listen to him. Of course he was saying the directions to the potion, and she knew it already. What was the point of listening to him? As soon as he dismissed them to start making the potion, she rushed to stuff in all the ingredients and in under ten minutes it was done.

_Damn_ Draco thought as he watched Hermione put her results in a vile. He hadn't even gotten started on his potion yet, and he was waiting to cheat off of Hermione. Apparently she was one step ahead of him.

Snape, who had just finished criticizing Neville (he ended up getting a purple bubbly concoction when it was really supposed to be misty and green), had eventually approached their table. He sneered at Harry and Ron's work (Harry had a pale yellow potion and Ron had orange for some reason). He came down to Hermione and noticed that she was done. He picked up Hermione's and held it high against the light of the room, as if trying to check for some hidden substances inside it.

Hermione smirked and crossed her arms, knowing that he wouldn't find anything to pick on her about.

Snape put her vile back down and gave a glance towards Draco. "You seem to know everything, and yet, you don't help out Mr. Malfoy here when he is obviously having some difficulty..." he said quietly.

"So's Harry and Ron, but you told me not to help anyone," Hermione said to him. "Besides, I'd rather not help someone I don't like."

Snape looked over at Hermione, eyes narrowed so low that they reduced to slits. "You really aught to tame your mouth, Granger," he said very quietly. "Doesn't that big brain of yours have common sense?"

"Doesn't your mouth have a trap?" Hermione snapped back.

The class drew in its breath. Draco nearly cut his finger in half, chopping his ingredients, as he turned his attention towards the scene.

Snape suddenly grew pale and looked as though he were about to choke her. "How dare you talk to me like that," he nearly hissed. "Fifty points from Griffindor and a week's worth detention."

"Oh, really now?" Hermione jumped up, grabbing her vile and her bag, packing it up. "Well, good luck with that because I'm not showing up!" she shouted angrily, her face turning red as she swung her bag over her shoulder. "I've had enough of your rotten attitude towards me and my friends. I'm filing a complaint and I hope you get fired! Maybe If I'm lucky, you'll get murdered!" With that she left out the class, slamming the door as hard as she could.

This would have to be one of the most challenging, and surprising, times that Hermione has ever had in her life. Her scratchless record was probably now going to show that she had argued and threatened at teacher. Her whole plan on life, ruined, because she had failed to close her mouth. She began to feel more horrible by each step she took. She had just made it to the Great Hall before she collapsed on the steps, sobbing in her hands. What was happening to her? she really was changing like Ron and Harry told her.

Whatever it was, she was turning more and more into the person she wished the most not to be.

She continued crying until it was time for classes to dismiss. She had Care of Magical Creatures next with Harry, Ron along with Malfoy and the Slytherins again. She stood up and vigorously wiped her eyes before suddenly being swarmed by Griffindors congratulating her.

"Wow Hermione! I didn't know you had it in you!" Seamus Finnigan exclaimed.

"I'm so glad you did it, he'd had it coming..." Dean Thomas said to her.

"Snape finally got what he deserved," Neville Longbottom added in. "Though I didn't picture you being the one to do it..."

"Hermione, you're my hero!" Parvati told her, admiration filled in her eyes.

Hermione was speechless until a pair of hands seized her arm and pulled her out of the circle. She looked around and saw that it was Ron, accompanied by Harry.

"Hermione..." he looked at her closely. "Are you okay? have you been crying?" he asked, as Harry looked at her worriedly.

"I'm fine," she said briefly as she pulled out of his grip. "I mean...I'm just stressed out right now, that's all." she started to walk away, not really wanting to be in the company of anyone right now. She needed to sort out her priorities. She hated to admit it, but a certain Slytherin was starting to rub off on her in the most unlikely way.

During Care of Magical Creatures, they were re-introduced to nifflers, (creatures similar to ferrets that aimed particularly for shiny things). This cheered up Hermione slightly, but not enough to keep her in the spirits. Ron and Harry tried desperately to make her laugh, let alone a smile form on her face. Even Hagrid, who always put a smile on her face, couldn't do it. Hermione appreciated the effort they took to make her happier, but it just wasn't working. She felt like she could never smile again.

After Care of Magical Creatures, it was lunch. Hermione, not feeling hungry, decided to skip it and head to the prefects dormintory to be alone. On the way, she saw a boy and a girl, both in about fourth year, kissing passionately beside the bookshelf on the first floor, trying to hide themselves but failing.

"Hey! you two need to find something else to do!" she snapped at the two, making them jump away from each other.

"What?" the boy pulled away and looked over at Hermione.

"Come on Vance, we can do this later..." the girl said, tugging on her boyfriend's arm.

The boy known as Vance glared at Hermione as he followed the girl back down the stairs. As he passed Hermione, he whispered, "I'll get you back, prefect."

"I'm sure," Hermione said back, rolling her eyes. She continued to climb up the stairs, not worrying about the threat. Eventually she found the gold bird, said the password and headed up. But as soon as she got there, she saw that she wasn't indeed alone, but Draco Malfoy was waiting, leaning against the wall.

"That was some brave thing you did today, Granger, I'm impressed." He said to her.

"Thanks, but I wasn't aiming to win your approval," Hermione told him as she headed for her room.

Malfoy raised his eyebrows. "You're asking for it, aren't you?"

Hermione stopped in her tracks and turned to him with such hatred that he thought he could feel the anger coming from her. "You better leave me alone."

"Why? going to tell your muggle mother?" Draco sneered. He looked at the girl and suprisingly, he saw tears rise up in her eyes.

"Why don't you just fuck off!" Hermione shouted at him before running to her room, bursting into tears in the process.

Draco was extremely surprised now. Not only at the fact that Hermione just used profanity, but also at the effort it took to break down the girl. Though, he realized, she had already been on the edge since Potions. He had never seen her break down like that, not even when he had first called her a mudblood in second year. As he pondered on, a strange feeling began to rise inside of him.

_What the hell is wrong with me? I know I can't be feeling sorry for that stupid girl..._he thought to himself. Or guilty, at that. But he had a sinking feeling that he was starting to slowly let down his guard for the brunette.

"Draco? _Draco..._"

Draco snapped back to reality and saw Pansy poking her head from her room.

"Are you ready for your warmup?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

It was only Draco's smile that reassured Pansy, and himself, that he wasn't thinking about any other girl, especially that Muggle-born Granger. As Draco entered her room and closed the door, he never realized that deep down inside, the feeling that had rose up just moments ago would continue to creep on him more and more.

**A/N: I really do appreciate all the feedback you all are giving me. If you have any suggestions/ideas, I'm all open to them! and again, I'm sorry the chapters are so short! It seems so long when I type, but its a different story after I look over it. But anyway, Thanks again for reading! Peace out, ya'll!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I Don't Hate You**

**A/N: Chapter four is here! (big whoos!) Sorry it took me so long, I kept forgetting to update:-)**

**This is a delayed correction, but there was a slight typo in chapter two. When Hermione fell on Ron, I put that Fred and George were the ones cat-calling, when it really should've been Seamus and Dean (this story was originally gonna take place during the fifth year, sorry about that folks).**

**Anyway, please read this chapter and tell me what you think!**

**Chapter 4**

Hermione sighed as she patrolled around fifth floor. It was nearly 11:00 at night, and prefect duty wasn't really amusing her because she hadn't caught anyone but Peeves, who thought it would be funny to throw water balloons at her while she was trying to visit Moaning Myrtle.

Maybe Harry's still up... Hermione thought to herself as she shivered in the breeze that blew by. She climbed the stairs until getting to the Fat Lady. After saying the password, ("Buttercup daisies"), she climbed in and saw Harry and Ron, sitting at a table and talking in low voices. As soon as they saw Hermione, they stopped talking altogether.

"Hey Hermione," Harry greeted as Ron looked at his hands. "Are you feeling any better from earlier?"

Hermione shrugged as she came over. "Not really. I mean, I cried it all out, and now I feel all withered and dry...I just don't feel good."

She noticed that Harry gave a glance over at Ron. Ron shook his head, looking suddenly nervous. "Did I miss something?" she asked, looking between the two.

"No!" Ron and Harry said quickly.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, but didn't question. "Okay then. Well, I'm tired. Harry, I'll see you in the morning. Love ya." she hugged him gently and stood up. "Are you coming Ron?"

Again, Harry glanced at Ron expectantly. Ron nodded, not meeting her eyes. "Night..." he muttered at Harry, following Hermione out of the portrait hole. "Tough day, huh?" he asked Hermione as they walked slowly to their destination.

"Very." Hermione agreed. "I just wish Snape would fall off the face of the earth with me standing there, laughing at him. What?" she added when Ron gaped at her. "You know, you've been doing an awful lot of gaping this year; it's rude you know. Do you have a problem with the way I feel?"

"That's the thing," Ron said in awe. "You've never ever said how you really felt until this year. Then you change on me by showing all this new attitude, a new Hermione that I've never seen before."

"Well, we're getting older, times are changing and its just about new things now," said Hermione. "I'm tired of being a crybaby. I'm tired of being the nerd that always raises her hand, or the girl that never gets a question wrong on a test or exam."

"But there's nothing wrong with that," Ron told her.

"Really? well, no one seems to appreciate that side of me," said Hermione.

"I do," Ron muttered, his ears turning slightly pink.

Hermione turned bright red and neither of them said anything else before approaching the golden bird statue. "Fudge sickle," she said quietly to the statue, and as soon as the stairs stopped revolving, the two climbed it up, all the way to the prefect's common room. There, Hermione stood, looking up at Ron.

"I know how you feel about me," she said to him.

Ron's whole face went beet red now, which really confirmed her suspicion. "B-but I...Harry d-didn't...how?"

"Ron, this is _me_ you're talking to," Hermione pointed out.

Ron didn't have any objection to that. He took a heavy sigh. "Well, this takes the hell outta telling you, but how am I gonna..." he suddenly faded off, looking away. His face was redder more than it had ever been.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You mean, trying to ask me out? It doesn't take a genius to figure that one out," she added as he gaped at her in amazement.

"Okay, so...do you?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Hermione didn't know what to say. She's never had a real boyfriend before. Ron had all good intentions for her, hopefully, and with the way he was looking at her, she couldn't possibly tell him no. Plus, a little part inside her was screaming "YES!" because she really did have a small crush on Ron.

She grinned up at him and said, "Well, maybe, maybe not. Let's see what happens when I do this..." she reached forward, seizing the front of Ron's robes and pulled him towards her. She leaned foward and her lips collided with his. She saw Ron's eyes widen with surprise before almost instantly wrapping his arms around her waist. Hermione locked her arms around his neck and they stayed like that for a while, enjoying the feel of each others lips.

Finally, Ron was the one to drop his arms first, pulling away. "We should probably get to sleep," he said to her, smiling.

Hermione smiled back. "Goodnight Ron." with that she leaned forward and kissed him gently on the cheek. As she opened her door, she glanced back at Ron and thought she saw a little bounce in his step as he headed to his room.

--------------------

The next morning, Hermione woke up in such good spirits, that she felt that nothing could ruin her good mood. She threw back the covers with a smile on her face and as she finished getting dressed, she walked with the same bounce in her step as Ron did when she headed down the stairs and opening the door to her room.

In the common room, she saw Draco waiting by Pansy's door. She was smiling at Draco, even though she wasn't really smiling at _him_, it was just because of her new relationship with Ron.

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, confused. He'd never seen her this happy...come to think of it, he'd never really seen her smiling before, and it was an interesting new light to see her in. Coming quick to his senses, he immediately snapped his eyes away from her and grew furious with himself for even getting stirred like that. He was starting to get soft again.

"Good morning, Malfoy!" Hermione greeted him happily. "It's such a beautiful day, isn't it? see you in Potions!" she hummed a tune as she exited the common room with Draco's eyes following her, desending down the steps to the Great Hall.

"Ready Draco!" Pansy came out of her room and saw that he looked distracted. "You okay?"

"Oh...yeah." Draco smirked at her, leaning over and kissing her cheek. "You know, we don't have to go to breakfast..." Pansy agreed like he thought, and the two started to kiss each other. Draco knew that doing this would keep his mind off other things, like Hermione for starters. Until then, he was just gonna have a little fun before class started.

----------------

"Hermione are you okay?" Harry asked the girl, noticing her unusually radiant smile as soon as they got in the classroom. "You've been smiling since breakfast. I thought your face was gonna fall off."

Hermione giggled. "Oh Harry, I should be more happier, don't you think?" she said. She saw Ron giving her a small smile out the corner of her eye. It had been so long since she's felt this happy, and now it seemed as if the world were a better place. The class poured in, and some seemed to notice her smile.

"Blimey, Hermione's been doing a bit of Botox, hasn't she?" Dean Thomas whispered over to Harry as he took his seat behind The-Boy-Who-Lived. (A/N: Remember, Dean was raised up by muggles so he really _would_ know what that was...no mistakes:P)

Even Snape, who had just recieved a death threat from the girl just the previous day, had been unusually kind to the girl by not picking on her much at all (or maybe that was just due to the fact that he thought she had complained to Dumbledore about him). Hermione thought her day was going so good...that is, until Draco and Pansy burst through the door with ten minutes left to class.

"What have you two been doing?" Snape asked curtly as he eyed their clothes half hanging off, Draco's hair frizzled and cheeks revealed with light pink lip marks and Pansy's shortness of breath. "You know...I don't even want to know. Draco, I've been so lenient with you, but now I think its time you've landed yourself in detention. You've been a bad influence on Ms. Parkinson here."

"WHAT?" yelled Draco while the Griffindors in the room snickered at him.

"Make that a week," Snape threatened, "Don't make me extend it for the remainder of the year." He turned his eyes to Hermione. "I hope you'll be smiling when you join Mr. Malfoy tonight, Miss Granger," he added, making the Griffindors stop laughing almost instantly.

It was that statement that made Hermione's smile fade and her bad mood kick in for the rest of class.

"Ooooh, that Snape!" she hissed after class as she followed Ron and Harry outside the classroom. "Now I can't do prefect duty!"

"Malfoy's just as mad as you are," Harry pointed out as he saw the blonde throwing a hissy fit several feet away.

"Snape's probably gonna make you clean the trophy room with a toothbrush," Ron told her. He made sure that other Griffindors weren't looking before he slipped his hand into hers, giving it a quick squeeze. "I'll be waiting for you though," he added to her quietly.

"Thanks." Hermione cheered up slightly at his affection, though, the thought of joining Snape and Malfoy by herself in the Trophy room didn't make her very happy at all.

**A/N: I really appreciate all the feedback from the reviewers (thanks so much guys!)After Chapter 5, things are gonna start changing between the two. Excuse the language, but Ron's gonna be a major ass later on...just to let you know that (don't hate me for it). I thought I'd prepare you for that, so in the meantime, the next chapter will be up soon!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: (singing) I'm back! and badder than ever!...er, anyway, here's chapter five. I hope I didn't keep you all in too much suspense waiting for it. Just tell me what you think when your done, okay?**

**Chapter 5**

Draco thought that Snape was on his side. It was times like these where he wished he had jinxed someone and put them in the Vanishing Cabinent, to disappear somewhere around the castle with no clues left behind. Pansy was the one who wanted to go all the way. If he hadn't let his hormones get in the way, he wouldn't have to be in the teachers office, waiting for the Mudblood he hated.

A few minutes after he got there, Hermione showed up, breathless, hands on her knees as she tried to get her breath back. "Sorry I'm late, I-"

"I don't want to hear excuses," Snape said sharply, cutting her off midsentence. "Lets go." He led the way, Draco snickering at Hermione as he followed behind, Hermione glaring as she trailed behind him. It wasn't until they had reached the stairs that Hermione knew that they weren't really going toward the Trophy room. As soon as Snape turned the corner, Hermione knew that they were headed straight towards the Library.

"Uuugh, what are we going here for?" Draco whispered as Snape pushed the door open.

"Madam Pince seemed to have a few books that need to be shelved," Snape said to them, pointing to what looked like giant anthills next to the service desk.

Hermione's mouth fell open, looking at about five extremely tall piles of that seemed to compensate for just a couple. "That...that'll take us a week to get through!" she squeaked, eyes wide.

Snape smirked. "Well, Granger, works perfectly for you and Mr. Malfoy. I'll be back in around two and a half hours or so...by the way, no magic. All hands and feet. But go ahead and try your wands. They're not in order by floor, so go ahead and pick." He walked away rather happily, leaving Hermione steaming mad at him.

As soon as the doors closed, Draco smacked his teeth. "If he really thinks I'm going to do this without magic, then he must be on something. There's no fucking way I'm doing this by hand." He pointed his wand at the books and muttered, "_Wingardium Leviosa._"

Nothing happened.

He tried again. The books didn't even budge. He tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked.

Hermione tried as well, and she got the same results. "He must've put some sort of spell on the books to prevent us from moving the books by magic," she stated.

"Wow, I had no idea," Draco said sarcastically as he picked up a book.

Hermione glared at him, resisting the temptation of punching the Slytherin. She picked up a book and looked on the spine for its order. Then she looked up and around. There were multiple floors in this library, and she had to put this book in place 1178. She sighed heavily.

It was going to be a long night.

------------

An hour later, they weren't even close to halfway finished with the first stack. Hermione was tired just by walking. She was on the second floor of the library, putting away a book numbered 367.

"I'm tired..." Draco moaned from the main floor as he tucked away a book located there.

"So am I, but you don't see me complaining," Hermione snapped to him. "Can you move faster? I want to at least be halfway done with this first stack here."

She put away a book, and as she moved away, her eyes caught on a black book that seemed to be brand new and untouched. Curiousity filled her as she pulled it out, looking at the front which spelled "Spiders" in gold, cursive letters. She moved to open it, and soon regretted it.

Draco was cursing Hermione under his breath at the bossiness of her tone. "...stupid little mudblood," he muttered as he shoved another book on the main floor. "Why don't anything bad ever happen to her? I wish she would pay for that damn mouth of hers..."

The instant he finished that sentence, a loud shriek filled his ears, making the hair on his neck prickle and stand on end. He turned around, trying to find Hermione and his eyes met instead a twenty foot black widow, its black beady eyes about the size of baseballs looking very eagerly at Hermione. Draco stumbled backwards and fell to the in horror. "Bloody hell!"

Hermione could've given anything to go back in time and prevent herself from opening that book. She slowly stepped back, edging as far as possible from the black widow as she could. The spider didn't move; it just watched Hermione step back as though waiting to pounce on her. That's exactly what the bushy-haired girl was afraid of.

Hermione's foot slipped slightly on a sharp turned corner, and as she looked over her shoulder she realized that she was one step away from falling around thirty feet in the air. Her wand, which was in her pocket, was right in arms reach. All she could do was reach in and get it. But she was frozen, immobilized by the pincers the size of Hagrid's hands, the legs twice the size of her own body...

"Granger! Hey Granger!"

Hermione looked over her shoulder and out the corner of her eye saw Draco pointing his wand at her.

"Move!" Draco yelled at her. "Move if you're not gonna do anything!"

"I...I am going to do something!" she yelled back, lying. "I'm trying to think of a spell!"

"Kill it!" Draco shouted back. "Just kill it!"

Hermione gaped at him. Use the killing curse? One of the unforgiven curses on something that was just using its natural surviving instinct? she didn't have the guts to, even though its drool and hungry looking eyes was starting to creep her out.

"I...I can't!" she said weakly.

"There's no point in saving it!" Draco snapped at her. "It's trying to make you its dinner! you're not gonna get it back in that book, and we can't exactly take it outside!"

Hermione realized he was right, but still, she didn't have the guts to take away its life. "I still can't," she said as she looked at the spider guiltily. The spider seemed to have thanked her for it, because it suddenly lurched toward her, making its move.

Hermione wasn't fast enough.

Draco watched in horror as Hermione and the spider, clutching her, fell thirty feet towards the ground. They were headed towards the stacks of books that were supposed to be sorted out. Hermione's scream was abruptly cut off as she and the spider landed hard in the stacks, sending about a hundred books flying in the air. Draco ducked under a table as it rained books for several seconds, tomes and paperbacks falling all around him and the spot he just came out of. After it was done, he got to his feet and saw that Hermione and the spider were laying on the ground unconscious. Draco ran over to the brunette to see that she was completely still.

"Granger wake up!" Draco tried shaking her awake, but she remained motionless. Grabbing his wand, he pointed at her face and muttered, "_aguamenti_."

As soon as the water hit her face, Hermione gasped for air and sputtered. She sat up, Draco knelt down next to her. "W-what...happened?" she said, panting slightly.

"You fell, thirty feet in the air," Draco said to her. "The spider did too. Are you okay?" he added more gently than he intended.

"Y-yeah..." said Hermione, taken back by the softness of his tone. "The spider broke my fall." She looked around anxiously. "So...where is it?"

Draco looked over at the spot where the spider fell to discover that it was no longer there. Then, a long shadow casted over the both of them and Draco felt something huge and wet plop on his head. Before he could move, Hermione had acted first.

"_Reducto_!" she yelled, her wand pointed over his shoulder. The spell flew from her wand and hit the spider square in its eyes, making it shriek and shrink to the size of a regular spider.

Draco stomped on it as soon as it had finished shrinking. "You're-not-eating-anyone-tonight," he said, stepping on the spider repeatedly with every word. He added an extra hard stomp on the flattened spider. "That's for drooling on my head!"

Hermione shuddered when she saw the blood and guts spread out on the floor. She stowed her wand away in her robes. "You didn't have to save me, you know."

"I'm aware of that, thank you," Draco snapped as he stowed his wand away too.

"So...why did you?"

Draco couldn't explain why his cheeks suddenly went red. He couldn't explain the feelings that rushed through him when Hermione fell from so high in the air, the sight of her unconscious, seemingly dead body on the floor. He didn't even know the answer to her question. He was then aware that he had went through an awkward silence, and Hermione was staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"I...stop asking so many damn questions!" he snarled, picking up a book and stomping away before anything else happened.

Hermione stared after him, her heart pounding nervously from his intense stare. What was that look about? were his feelings about her being just some stupid little Mudblood starting to change? For the first time ever, she wondered herself whether she was starting to feel differently too.

**A/N: There's always action in the Harry Potter books, so I had to add in a little bit of it! well, it may have been kinda...I don't know, random, but hey. Whatever pops in my head, it's down here, basically (with some major revising afterwards...) Chapter 6 won't take long to get here, but in the meantime, please tell me what you think so far and I'll be back soon!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Judging by the reviews, I can tell that some of you might be curious as to when the fluffy stuff happens to Hermione and Draco. Well, I'll just tell you this (incase there might be some folks out there that don't want to be spoiled), that this story is going to be long and the romance will not occur until later. If you really REALLY must know, then just send me a message and I'll be more than happy to give you exactly when. But if you can hang on until then, that'll be great.**

**Anyway, thanks for those who added me to their favorites list. If you would be so kind as to tell me what you think, because it will help me be a better writer. Thanks:-) (I accept anonymous reviews, just so you'd know).**

**CHAPTER WARNING: contains language and **_**slight**_** sexual content (don't say I didn't warn ya).**

**Chapter 6**

"Time's up," Snape called as he walked swiftly through the library.

Hermione and Draco, who were just about to go pack away some books, looked over at the Potions teacher as he approached them.

Snape looked around at the mess of books lying all around the floor. "Hmm...seems to me like you did some damage..." He pulled out his wand and waved it lazily. The books all flew back into their designated spots. The first stack was barely halfway done.

"Not much done at all," Snape continued to say. "I guess I'll have to assign you an hour of extended time tomorrow."

"_What_?" Draco and Hermione both yelled at the teacher.

"It wasn't my fault, professor!" Draco snapped as he pointed at the brunette. "She opened up a book and unleashed a monster spider which _I_ killed!"

"He's been moving slow the whole time, complaining!" Hermione said fiercely. "He's the one who should stay behind!"

"Okay, midnight it is then," Snape continued coolly. "You'll work for two more extra hours tomorrow."

Hermione and Draco's mouths dropped open and then they glared at each other.

"I suggest you two go to bed...you're going to have long days tomorrow," Snape said, smiling very sinister like.

Hermione did not waste any time in rushing out of the Library and towards the prefects common room. The thought of them getting along in a life time were so slim now it wasn't even funny. She almost wished that the spider had managed to eat her.

"Fudge sickle," she growled at the golden bird, glaring angrily at the revolving staircase. As soon as the stairs appeared, she ran them all the way up to the common room, where Ron was sitting at the table at work with some homework.

"I see you've had some fun," he stated as she approached him.

"Draco's gotten us two more extra hours because of his stupid mouth!" Hermione raged. "We're gonna be coming in at midnight tomorrow now! God I hate him so much!"

"Don't we all," Ron muttered, shaking his head. He put his pen down and patted his lap, gesturing for her to sit. "Come on...you know you want to," he added when he noticed her hesitation.

Hermione cautiously sat in his lap and instantly, she was wrapped inside a warm hug. Her frown had faded into a smile, her anger diminishing as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "This is nice," she stated, looking at him. But then she caught the look in his eyes and she knew what was coming next. Butterflies began to flutter inside her stomach as Ron leaned over, his nose nuzzling slightly against hers before closing in, kissing her gently on the lips. It was just an ordinary kiss at first, but it grew to something more after a moment or two, and Hermione found herself enjoying the passion that was put into the kissing. It was during this she felt Ron's hand slipping up the inside of her robes, and she started to feel nervous and even more as she realized that his fingertips were edging too far up, and they were about to touch-

"Ron, stop." Hermione pulled away from Ron, her arms dropping to his hand and pulling it away.

"Hermione, I'm sorry," Ron rushed to say, "I didn't mean to, I got carried away and..."

"It's fine Ron, it's alright," Hermione lied, her face growing redder and redder by the second as she got off of his lap.

Ron ran a hand through his hair, looking just as uncomfortable as she did. "I think we should go to bed," he said. "Goodnight Hermione." with his face as red as a beet, he left towards his room rather clumsily.

Hermione stood there, watching him go. What inspired him to just make that move on me? she wondered. She never knew Ron could be so bold as to try it, after all her years of knowing him. Maybe he practiced them on some other girl. Wait, what other girl?

As she stood there, pondering this, she didn't notice that Draco had came up the stairs behind her.

"What's wrong with your face?" he sneered. "Then again, it had always been messed up to begin with."

As memories of the detention began to flood back to Hermione's head, her anger restored as quickly as the snapping of fingers. She marched over to Draco and got right in his face. "You should shut up," she said quietly, her face starting to burn red from anger.

Draco raised his eyebrows, but nonetheless didn't cower down. "Why don't you say that again?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Hermione screamed, and with her hand outstretched, she brought full force into it as it collided hard with the side of Draco's face. Her eyes widened up in horror as she saw a red handprint slowly starting to form on Draco's cheek. It was his second slap by her, and it would probably be her last.

Draco stared at her in disbelief before slowly starting to smile. He chuckled, shaking his head slightly, making it look like it was all a joke. But when he spoke, it was lethal and deadly. "You wanna play that way?" he asked coldly, making the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck stand up.

"Stay away from me," Hermione warned, slowly starting to back away.

Draco walked toward her as she steadily edged away from him. "You want to play that game again don't you? where's your friends now?"

"I'll...I'll just yell then," Hermione said nervously as she continued to step back, but found that the couch had hit the back of her legs.

"Try." Draco challenged her.

Hermione took him on. She screamed, or rather, her mouth was wide open in position to...but nothing came out. Her eyes opened in horror and glaring at Draco, her mouth moving rapidly but her voice not audible.

"Lately, I've been known to master non-verbal spellcasting," Draco informed her, smiling as he brought his wand up to view. "So what are you gonna do?" He made an attempt to grab her wrist.

Hermione tried to snatch her arm back, but instead lost her balance. She reached for anything to grab on to as she began to fall backwards and unfortunately, that was Draco. The two of them toppled on to the couch. Hermione, who had her eyes closed, slowly opened them to find herself looking at a pair of deep blue eyes.

Draco had fell on top of Hermione, as he realized it would happen as she tripped and grabbed him. The next thing he knew, he was on top of her. He made to move away, but then his eyes suddenly locked with hers, getting trapped inside the chocolate brown, and he froze. Feelings that he had felt back in the library flooded back into his body as he gazed at her. What it meant, he didn't know. All he knew was that her face was coming oddly closer and closer with each growing second...

"What the hell's going on?"

Hermione shrieked (actually being heard this time) and shoved Draco off, sending him crashing into the floor. She scrambled off the couch and whirled around to face Ron.

Ron's face was shocked for a split second before he registered the scene before his eyes and he frowned. "Oh. I see now," he finally said. "So you wouldn't let _me_ touch you, but you'd let him do it."

"Ron, its not like that!" Hermione said quickly. "Let me explain-"

"You don't have to," Ron said flatly. With that being said, he turned around and headed back into the room.

Hermione rushed after him. "Wait, Ron, please, just let me-" she started to say, but Ron had shut the door dead in her face. She stared at the door for a while and felt the tears rush in her eyes. She didn't blaim him for not wanting to listen, but it still didn't give him the reason to just treat her like that. She hurried off to her room, tears pouring down her cheeks as she closed the door silently.

Draco watched her go before realizing what had been done. He had partly just wrecked her relationship with the red-head. And as he headed to his room, he could hear her sobbing through the walls of her own room. He shook his head silently, realizing that at the moment, for the first time in his life, he felt sorry for Hermione.

**Well, that's the end of Chapter 6. It's kinda short I know, but it was shorter until I revised it and added a bit more to it. Anyway, I'll be back soon with chapter 7! catch you on the flip side!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: So this update came a little bit faster...How was everyone's Halloween? I watched two minutes of Saw IV and then I got really disgusted. That movie scared the crap out of me, but then again, everything scares the crap outta me. Anyway, this chapter is random too. Yeah, it popped in my head for some reason, a certain part, and you'll probably know what (it actually came from a dream I had at one point, but that's another story). Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review!**

**Chapter 7**

Just as Draco was confused about his feelings, Hermione was going through the same thing. The next day, she had to deal with the silent treatment from Ron. Harry and Ginny didn't seem to notice though, but that may have been because Hermione and Ron's relationship was being kept a secret. Hermione had no one to turn to. Trying to be strong, she kept all her tears, her sad feelings in the inside, being a good actress at disguising her emotions. No one had any idea what she was going through.

Draco Malfoy knew better than that. From the moment Hermione and Ron had their brief argument, he knew that there was a fling going on between them. Everytime he glanced at her, he could see the hurt in her eyes, and she'd been holding it in. She never met eyes with the red-head, and when she did, she looked on the verge of tears but held it in. For him to see this was pathetic, but hey, there was nothing he could do. It wasn't his business to intrude, and even if he did do something, there would probably be more trouble in her little paradise.

Later on that day, when he happened to notice that once again, Hermione and Ron were ignoring each other in Care of Magical Creatures. He led his niffler a little closer to them so that he could hear what they were saying, pretending to be interested in the niffler digging in the ground.

"Harry, could you pass me that gold right there?" Ron asked as he picked up his niffler to check for any treasure.

Harry held them out for Hermione, too far to reach Ron. "Hermione, could you pass this to Ron?"

"Oh, sure." Hermione took the coins and instead of giving them to Ron, she dropped them on the ground next to his feet.

"Sorry about that," she said rather stiffly.

Ron chuckled as he bent down to pick it up. "Real mature, Hermione."

"Well, I wouldn't have to do these things if you'd just hear me out," Hermione told him as she reached for a silver spoon dug up by her niffler.

Ron sighed. "You know, I don't have time for these games."

"I'm not playing any games!" Hermione hissed, crossing her arms and totally oblivious to her animal-watching. "You _never_ listen to what I have to say. I don't lie to you, Ron."

"Oh really?" Ron turned to her, his ears pink. "Well, you and Malfoy were sure hitting it off the other night."

He glared over at Draco, who realized that he was standing only a few feet away, staring at the two of them. Clearing his throat loudly, he turned back to his niffler and pretended to engage in conversation with Crabbe and Goyle.

"You have it all wrong, Ron, you really do," Hermione said quietly.

Ron said nothing but looked a whole lot more interested in his niffler.

Hermione said nothing else but kept her distance the whole time. How could Ron had possibly thought a little fling was going on between her and the biggest jerk she's ever met? Though, she had to admit, after he seemed to care about her in detention, she didn't hate him as much as she usually did. He might not be so bad of a person.

Wait a second. Hermione almost cursed at herself for thinking such a thing. Malfoy would never like her in a million years. He wouldn't dare do anything nice for her again. In the meantime, she would have to figure out more ways to get on Ron's good side.

As class ended, Hermione walked next to Harry instead of Ron, who was talking to Seamus and Dean nearby him. As they entered the Dining Hall, Hermione noticed Harry and Ginny flagging her down in particular. With raised eyebrows, she went over to them and they offered her a seat in between them. As soon as she sat down, she knew that they were up to something, especially the smiles they kept throwing at her.

"What?" she asked irritably as Ginny threw her googly eyes.

"Trouble in paradise?" she asked as she sunk into some pudding.

Hermione, who was just about to eat a cracker, dropped it on to her plate. "What?" she repeated, cheeks slightly pink.

"Don't play that game, Hermione," Harry said to her. He looked around before dropping his voice. "We know about you and Ron."

"How-?"

"The Weasley's know everything," Ginny told her with a wink. "So, we're right?"

Hermione nodded sadly. "He caught me alone with Malfoy...and thought we were up to something."

"Really? what were you doing with him anyway?" Harry asked.

"Arguing," Hermione said simply. "Then I tripped, and he fell on top of me..."

"The freak!" Ginny exclaimed. "Trying to put his moves on you! Our innocent Hermione..."

"I pulled him with me," Hermione added a little defensively, not knowing why it was important to clarify that.

Harry and Ginny glanced at each other and stared back at her in amazement.

"She's...she's moving up now, Ginny," Harry said seriously, looking at the girl and clutching his heart in surprise.

"Our precious little flower is growing up!" Ginny said as she embraced The-Boy-Who-Lived and began to fake sob.

"It seemed like just yesterday that Victor Krum would be our new brother-in-law," Harry said wonderingly, looking off into the ceiling.

"But I'm glad he didn't," Ginny said as she wiped imaginary tears from her eyes. "I'm afraid we would've had muscular, duck-footed children."

Hermione stared at the two before bursting out in hysterical laughter. She actually had to hold her sides and the table to keep herself from falling to the floor.

"After a while, Fred and George _will_ start to rub off on you," said Ginny grinning at the brunette. "Glad to see you're smiling, Hermione."

"Ron always has his moodswings, you know that," Harry told Hermione. "But in the meantime, we'll always be here for you Hermione if you're in trouble."

Hermione wiped her happy tears away, grinning at her friends. She was quite amazed at their Weasley-twin like antics, yet touched at the same time by the fact that the two cared so much for her. At least they realized that her and Malfoy getting together was just out-of-the-question.

"Thanks, you guys."

The rest of the day turned out quite smoothly. Hermione had been in high spirits as Harry and Ginny kept her company and laughing. Though, when Dinner ended, she was on her own as she had to go serve out her detention.

"Don't let the pureblood catch ya!" Ginny called as her and Harry headed up to Griffindor Tower.

Hermione laughed and turned around only to bump into Draco, who was heading towards detention too. Her smile quickly faded as she glared at him. "Where do you think _you're_ going?"

Draco rolled his eyes.

"I was actually about to do something nice for a change," he said to her. "Look, as soon as I call you a Mudblood, slap me as hard as you can."

Hermione gaped at him for a moment. That didn't sound like Malfoy at all. At least, not the Malfoy she knew anyway.

"What?" she asked in disbelief.

"Just play along," Draco told her. He cleared his throat and said loud enough for everyone to hear, "Why don't you get out of my way, Granger?"

"Uh...You're the one who bumped into me!" Hermione raged back, trying to fit into the role of the victim. "I don't have time to fuss with with you!"

"You don't have time for anything but opening your legs!" Draco snapped back.

_Oh that was good_ Hermione thought, raising her eyebrows considerably at his comment. She was nearly about to congratulate him on this when she realized that they were roleplaying, and she immediately snapped back into her role.

"You jerk!" she shouted. "I hate you!"

"Same here, you little mudblood!" Draco shouted back.

With everyone in the room watching, Hermione raised her hand to slap him, but someone suddenly grabbed her wrist to prevent her from doing it. She looked over her shoulder and saw Ron, holding her wrist firmly and face red with anger.

"Go away, Malfoy, before I make you," he said in a voice that Hermione never heard before. She had never seen him looking so serious before.

Malfoy raised an eyebrow. "Fine. See you in detention, Granger," he added with a glance towards the girl as he walked out, just as people were starting to stand up and file out of the Great Hall.

Ron watched him leave before turning back to Hermione. "Can we talk?" he asked quietly.

Hermione nodded, not quite believing what just happened. She absentmindedly followed Ron, not at all concerned about what he was going to say, but instead of what Malfoy just did for her. Did he really, truly, just try to _help _her out? _I was actually about to do something nice for a change_ he had said. Was she right about what she thought? was he actually growing soft on her? the thought of this sent her heart flying off course. Why was that making her nervous?

When her thoughts came back to reality, she realized that she was standing in front of the prefect dormintory entrance. She looked around and saw that nobody but her and Ron was there. She turned to Ron and saw that he was staring at her strangely.

"Ron-" Hermione started to say but was cut off when Ron suddenly grabbed her and thrusted his lips to hers. Wide eyed, Hermione waited until the impulse had went away, and the red-haired boy finally pulled away. "Ron!" she said breathlessly, amazed at what he did.

Ron grinned at her. "A sorry just didn't cut it. I over-reacted Hermione. I should've realized that you would never date _him_. Let alone touch him."

Hermione sighed with relief. "It was an accident Ron, trust me. I didn't want to touch you because I was nervous. Besides, I would choose you over Malfoy anyday."

Ron smiled. "I wish I would've seen you slap him, he deserved it for that comment he made."

Hermione's smile faded away a little. "Yeah," she said, though she was thinking opposite. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Ron kissed her and headed back to the prefect's dormintory.

Hermione was about to leave to the library when she bumped into Draco on the way there. The two stopped and stared at each other for a while. Hermione's heart started to hammer faster against her chest as she darted her eyes away from him.

"Weasley still mad at you?" Draco asked her.

Hermione shook her head, surprised to feel her cheeks flushing brightly. "That was nice of you," she said quietly.

"I wasn't trying to be nice!" snapped the Slytherin. "You are so pathetic, you know that?" with that, he walked away from her, trying himself not to blush.

Hermione just watched after him for a while, thinking maybe, just _maybe, _that Malfoy wasn't such a bad person after all.

**-----------------**

It was killing Draco in the inside to know that now, he had done something nice, for the first time, in his whole life. As he walked with Snape, beside Hermione, he noticed that she didn't give him a look of disgust or glance at him hatefully as she always did. She didn't exactly smile, but she just glanced at him and looked away rather quickly. He didn't know what to say to her, and she didn't know what to say with them. The two of them were so caught up at the moment, that they let Snape criticize them without talking back.

"I do hope you two will stop sitting around, lounging and make better progress," Snape commented as he led them inside the library. "I must say, you two put a whole lot more effort in this library than you ever did in my classroom."

Draco was picking at his nails, glancing at Hermione while Hermione pretended to be busy with a spot on the floor.

Snape raised his eyebrows at the fact that they didn't sass him back. "I'll be back around midnight. I hope I see that you two are almost done with the second stack."

As soon as he left, Draco and Hermione turned to glance at each other.

"What are you looking at?" they both asked each other.

"I didn't look at you, you looked at me!" Hermione raged back.

"Whatever." Draco turned around towards the stack and barely picked one up when he heard laughing. He turned and saw that Hermione was chuckling, staring at him. "What the hell is so funny?" he growled.

"You know Draco, you really are funny. But I get you." Hermione was smiling at him now. "All this vented anger...it makes sense now."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, and Hermione was glad to see that he sounded a little nervous.

"I think you're starting to change your feelings about me," said Hermione as she crossed her arms.

It was Draco's turn to laugh, though he did it rather weakly. "You've got to be kidding me. Okay look Granger, I've hated you for six years now."

"Really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "So, can you explain to me why you saved me from the spider? and why you helped Ron and I get back together?"

Draco's mouth hung open but didn't find any words to say but, "Leave me the hell alone!" He walked away from her, heart hammering nervously against his chest. As much as he'd like to deny it, he couldn't get over the fact that maybe, just MAYBE, he really _has_ changed his feelings about the girl, but he couldn't break down in front of her; she couldn't possibly get the satisfaction of the doubt. But he would never ever tell her, and nothing could make him.

-------------------

"Times up," Snape called yet again as he came into the library three hours later.

Draco and Hermione joined him moments later as they rushed from different floors, faces pink and flushed from heat.

Snape looked up at their progress and smirked. "Hmmm...I guess you've made a satisfactory progress here...you did start on the second stack, but I certainly hoped you've learned a lesson on extended time, because you'll be finishing tomorrow at the same time. Sleep well."

Hermione's mouth opened to argue but Draco stepped lightly on her foot. She caught his glance out the corner of her eye, and he was shaking his head lightly.

Snape's smile grew even more menacing as he turned and headed out the library. Hermione cussed silently as she followed him, thinking nothing but death threats. As soon as Snape disappeared around the corner towards his office, she couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Why did he have to do that? We got to the second stack like he wanted us to!" she raged.

"Because he's the world's biggest shit head," Draco told her simply. "Yeah, I said it," he added when Hermione looked at him in amazement. "Because it's true, he _is _a shit head. I really do see it now. If you had made the same mistake I made a couple of nights ago, we would probably be fuming mad now because we got extended time."

"Then I would have to get a knife and slit Snape's throat," Hermione muttered.

Draco chuckled. "That's a bit dark for you, Granger."

Hermione realized that he was right. So much has changed, she thought. She couldn't even believe that she was sitting here holding a conversation with the boy she supposedly hated, and agreeing with him.

Moments later, the two arrived inside the The fireplace was blazing with heat, no one to be seen. She looked around once and instantly saw something she's never seen before. "Wow! look at that!"

Draco looked in her direction and his eyebrows raised. There, on the side of the room, was a long, brown table holding a big black coffee maker, which was steaming with coffee as it sat. Next to it was like a concession stand; it was stored with popcorn, muggle and wizard candy, even Muggle soda machines. "Well, time to eat I guess," he commented as he headed over to it, Hermione following him.

Draco saw a small little red box with a girl on it. He grabbed one and opened it, seeing dark purple shriveled up looking things. He stuck his finger in the box, got one out and put it in his mouth. Seconds later, he was spitting it out on the floor.

"Gross!" he said with a disgusted face. "This tastes like _shit_!"

Hermione, who was drinking a water bottle, suddenly sprayed Draco with water, choking slightly. "S-sorry," she gasped, choking and laughing at the same time.

Draco, who was now dripping wet, stared at her. "Oh, so you wanna play that way huh?" He grabbed a water from the counter, screwed open the top and slung some water out of it at her.

Hermione shrieked as the water hit her. The smile slid quickly off her face. "How dare you!" she fumed angrily, slinging some of her own water at him.

Draco ducked out of the way. "Missed, loser," he teased, sticking a tongue out at her.

Hermione tried again, and Draco moved too late. He was hit in the attempt on rolling out the way again. Swearing loudly, he revealed himself from behind the couch and flung water back at her. Hermione dove behind the other couch and missed the water by only a second, giggling madly.

"Now who's the loser?" she teased him, poking her head from over the couch. Draco wasn't looking at her anymore, nor was he smiling. He was looking over her shoulder, looking quite blank. Hermione's stomach dropped as she slowly turned on the spot and saw Ron, standing at the foot of the stairs, staring at them. He crossed the room as if he hadn't seen anything and went straight into his room.

Hermione didn't know how to explain this one.

**A/N: So How was it? Review please!!!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed last chapter, I appreciate it. I'm sorry it took me so long, I kept forgetting to update:-) I hope everyone had a happy thanksgiving, and thank you for supporting me so far! enjoy!**

**Chapter 8**

Hermione got up the next morning feeling guilty. The previous night had nearly kept her from getting a good night's sleep. The look of anguish and confusion Ron gave her was stuck inside her head. There was no excuse this time, and she had no new story to tell Ron. So he caught her having fun...with their enemy. Of course she would be mad if he did the same thing with Pansy. She had an inkling feeling that he was gonna do some more cold shoulder work during their classes.

With that thought in her head, she slipped out of bed and put her clothes on at a normal pace, not bothering to rush. She headed into the common room to see Draco sitting with his legs propped up on the table. They looked at each other at the same time.

Draco saw that she couldn't get much sleep, and her eyes looked red, presumably from crying about Ron. After what seemed like an hour, Hermione looked away and continued down the stairs as if it never happened. For some reason, this irritated the blonde very much, and he had a sudden urge to speak out and make things right. The real question or not was whether he was gonna go through with it.

As if on cue, footsteps were coming down the boys dormintory and just like he wanted, Ron appeared, looking disgruntled due to the morning time. The two boys glanced over at each other. Ron kept walking towards the steps as though he didn't do this. Draco couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Weasley!" he called out to the red-head just as his feet touched the stairs.

"What do _you_ want?" Ron said unpleasantly, turning to the blonde.

Draco cut straight to the point. "Look, stop making Granger feel like dog shit everyday, she's got alot to deal with in her life. It was my fault last night _and_ last time. I can't help it that she was laughing, everyone has fun with me," he added boastfully with a smirk.

Ron just stared at him in disgust. "You set off trying to ruin Harry and my life, and now you're trying to take away the girl that I've loved for the past six years!" he said fiercely. "What else do you want from me?"

"I'm not trying to take your girl!" Draco snapped at the Griffindor. " Hell, I don't even want to flirt with her! I'm just sick of the way you're treating her...you're her girlfriend, and just because she's having a few laughs with me, you're gonna hurt her everyday by not speaking."

He took a pause and realized that even though Ron was frowning at him heavily, he was listening closely.

"You should see the way her eyes water when she looks at you," he continued a little more calmly and quieter, "Did you ever notice that her progress in class is poor? she's making A's and P's now, but you're so busy with your head stuck up your own ass, you can't see it."

"and you should be the person to talk," Ron retorted, his hands curling into fists.

Draco had enough. He strode over to Ron and jerked him up by the front of his robes.

"You listen to me," he said repressively. "Granger is more than you've bargained for. You don't _love_ her."

"How do _you _know what love is?" Ron snarled as he pulled out of the blonde's grip.

"I don't," Draco said simply. "But if its really how people describe it nowadays, then you definitely aren't doing it right."

With that noted, Draco glared at him some more and turned to walk down the stairs, Ron staring after him in surprise. That statement he said did leave a wondering thought in both of the young men's heads: did they really know the definition of love?

-------------------

Hermione had joined herself up with the offering company of Harry and Ginny, who like previously, made her feel a load better about her situation. The only thing missing was Ron, but Hermione found that she rather that he wasn't around, and that he didn't talk to her, because if he did she felt like she would say some nasty things she didn't mean. During the remainder of the day the two kept their space from each other. Hermione thought she saw Ron trying to approach and talk to her a few times, but didn't give it a second thought.

Later on that night, she was piling up her books in the corner after a round of studying when Ron came down the stairs from his room. He blushed as soon as he saw her, but said nothing until Hermione tucked her wand behind her ear and prepared to leave.

"Wait, Hermione," he called as she reached the stairs.

"I can't," Hermione said shortly, not turning to look, "I have a detention to do, and if Snape finds me late, then he'll-" she was cut off by arms wrapping around her waist and a warm face snuggling in the crook of her neck.

"Snape can wait a moment," Ron said softly as he planted his lips under her earlobe. "Just stay with me a little longer..."

Hermione blushed brightly as she pulled away from Ron, smiling up at him. "So I see you believe me this time?"

Ron nodded. "Malfoy told me the truth," he told her.

Hermione's smile faded off her face.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy? our enemy?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Ron replied. "He actually made me see the truth."

"What truth?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows.

Ron told her about the argument, which at the end, Hermione's mouth was dropped to the floor.

"_What_? but Ron, neither of you know what love really is!" Hermione exclaimed.

After she said this, she realized that Ron was looking at her differently. It looked odd to her at first until she realized that it was something that she had seen Harry with, and that was when he looked at Ginny. Oh no, he wasn't about to say it...

"But I do think I realize it," Ron told her, taking her hands into his. "I thought about it and I think that's what I feel about you."

Hermione stared at Ron. She blinked several times, as though it were a dream, and even resorted to pinching her arm to make sure. Ron? telling her that he actually loved her? It didn't seem real, though she looked up into his smiling face and saw that he was serious, she realized that this was no fairytale. He was anticipating her answer, and though it would have to be tough, he was just going to face the facts that she didn't feel the same way.

"Well, Ron, that was sweet of you to say, but I-"

"Say no more." Ron leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "I love you too, Hermione."

Hermione bit her lip as she pulled away from him. "Erm, I gotta go to detention now. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

She rushed away before Ron could give her an answer to that. As she walked down the stairs, she thought about what Ron just said and did. It was nice to have him say that, and it was nice to be appreciated that way, but the fact was, she was just not interested in Ron like that. She had never really wanted to go out with him like that, and now look. He had "fallen in love" with her. She didn't feel the same way about him. So who was the guy? she didn't know, but she knew that it wasn't her best friend.

----------------------

"I'll retrieve you both at midnight," Snape told the students yet again for the fourth night. "By then, hopefully, you'll be finished with the third stack."

Draco looked at Snape calmly, thinking nothing more than smothering the Potions teacher with a pillow.

"Good luck," Snape told the two, though Hermione knew he meant it sarcastically. She watched as he turned heel and walked out, a huge smirk on his face.

Draco flipped Snape a rude sign as soon as he turned away. He turned around to the stacks and caught a glance of Hermione smiling at him, making him nearly jump with fright. Rolling his eyes, he stated, "Granger, if you keep smiling like that then you'd really be the laughing stock of the school."

Hermione giggled in a way he'd never heard before. "Oh, Malfoy..." she said in a teasing like voice. "You're so funny...and helpful."

Only a few seconds after she said that did the lightbulb glow inside Draco's brain.

"Weasley told you, I guess?" he asked her gruffly, looking anywhere but her.

Hermione rocked forward and backwards on her heels, smiling and singing in a quiet voice, "Malfoy's letting up his guard...Malfoy's starting to like me.."

"Shut up!" Draco snarled at her.

Though she could possibly be right. He didn't know what to think anymore.

"But seriously..." Hermione's smile faded, and her cheeks turned as red as his. "Thank you. I mean, you didn't have to help me..."

"Which I'm already starting to regret," Draco muttered as he began piling books into his hand.

Hermione smirked. "Oh, so you're gonna be like that huh?" when she recieved no answer, she started to hum merrily while waving her wand around. Books of all sizes started to fly from the third stack. She watched as Draco blindly headed over to a shelf on the main floor, stuffing in all the books rather quickly (Hermione assumed he was just sticking them there). After a few minutes, he turned to her and his mouth fell open in surprise.

"You...how did...why..." Malfoy was at a loss for a proper sentence.

Hermione just grinned. "This was my payback of being nice," she told him. "I was gonna tell you that I figured out a countercurse to get these books modified by magic, but you were being too rude to me to pay attention."

"I'm...sorry."

Hermione looked at him in surprise this time; the books that were gliding in midair promptly fell to the floor.

"You...what?" she squeaked.

Draco shrugged embarassingly. "Sorry for being mean. Can't someone apologize for their actions?"

"Not you!" Hermione said in awe, staring at him as though he were a new-found discovery.

Draco stared at her a few seconds before bursting into laughter. Hermione continued to stare at the blonde, not sure whether it was actually the hateful Slytherin or some new person who drank polyjuice potion. Several seconds later, Draco recovered from his sudden outburst and wiped at his eyes. When he was done he looked at Hermione, grinning sheepishly.

"I'm telling you, you looked ridiculous making that face. Well, you look ridiculous making any face, but who's to judge?" he added with a slight shrug, still smiling.

Hermione scowled and slapped him on the arm. Playfully or seriously, he deserved it. But as she began to scout away books, she couldn't help but crack a smile of her own.

--------------------

"...and he said that I didn't love her!" Ron leaned backwards to relax in his chair. He took a heavy sigh before he spoke again. "Then he had the audacity to say he didn't understand love, but if people were right about it these days then I wasn't doing it right!" he rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding me?"

"Oh, really now?" Ginny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah," Ron said more calmly. "But I do love Hermione. You believe that right?"

"Yeah, of course we do," Harry said, not bothering to try and hide the weakness of this statment.

"Okay." Ron looked over at them. "You know, Malfoy's starting to sound a whole lot like a nice person. But I'm not worried." He looked over at the Griffindor common room fire, which blazed ferociously. "He's not gonna love her like I do."

Harry met Ginny's eyes and hastily, he coughed to cover up the silence that crept in the room. "Right," he added very awkwardly.

Ron stood up after all this. "Thanks you guys for listening to me, and now, I think Hermione's about to come now. See you at breakfast."

Ginny waited until Ron had disappeared before sighing heavily and leaning back in her chair. "That seems unlike Malfoy to say something like that. You know what that means, right?"

"What? that Malfoy likes Hermione?" Harry snorted. "That'll be the day, Gin. That'll be the day."

Ginny shrugged. "It couldn't happen."

"Even so, Hermione wouldn't like him back," said Harry. "They _hate_ each other, remember?"

_But still_ Ginny thought in her head as she gazed into the common room fire. "I guess your right," she lied smoothly. "They probably would hate each other forever."

Harry laughed. "Yeah...I just don't see Hermione and Malfoy going for each other..."

Ginny looked over at him to see that he had a questioning look, and it was obvious that both of them were thinking the same thing: _could_ Draco and Hermione be falling for each other, in front of their very eyes?

**A/N: And we get closer and closer to the gushy stuff. I'm surprised so many of you like it. The support is overwhelming to me. It's you that keeps the story up, so please tell me what you think of the chapter. Otherwise, I'll see you in a few!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: That was a quick update, wasn't it:-) I hope you guys remember that boy who made that threat out to Hermione ("I'll get you back, prefect!") because now he returns and he tries to get our Hermy in a trap. This is probably the dirtiest chapter in the story...you'll see what I mean.**

**CHAPTER WARNING: Contains slight sexual content, and strong language. Don't say I didn't warn ya:-) **

**Chapter 9**

Hermione and Draco were satisfied enough when Snape saw that they were done with the third stack and had started on the fourth. Maybe he thought they used magic from the suspicious look he was giving them; otherwise, he didn't give any hint that they had cheated, and just muttered something along the lines of "not nearly impressive but good enough," and led them out the library.

As he turned the corner towards his office, Draco rushed ahead to get into his room (or maybe to get to Pansy). Hermione rolled her eyes but kept her slow, steady pace. The halls were lit with candles, and everything seemed gloomy and mysterious. She couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that something-or someone-was watching her, and resorted to thinking that it was Draco, lurking in the shadows to jump out and try to scare her like he did multiple times since the year started.

_It's nothing_ Hermione told herself, walking up the staircase. _It's nothing...It's nothing..._

Then something out of the corner of her eye moved at breakneck speed. Hermione whirled around, wand drawn out and pointed ahead of her. She waited, but heard nothing else. The blur occured somewhere next to the statue of a woman holding her own wand drawn out. After a moment of silence, Hermione sighed heavily, stowing away her wand.

"Malfoy, this is _not_ funny," she said loudly, "stop being immature and come out."

Nothing happened.

Hermione scowled as she entered the third floor corridor, searching around more carefully. "Malfoy, stop it right now!" she snapped, looking around. She passed by a broom cupboard and paused, a few feet ahead of it. That's where she thought she had seen the blur. She cautiously stepped back and looked around, taking out her wand slowly. Draco or not, she was prepared to stun the thing that was following her. She reached for the doorknob and put her hand on it. In a silent countdown to three, she twisted the knob and jerked the door open.

A pair of hands suddenly seized the front of her robes and jerked her in. Hermione shrieked in fright, trying to pull away but the hands were way too strong. She was in the dark broom cupboard alone with some stranger, who was much stronger and taller than Draco. His breath was hitting her, and it smelled stale and rotten.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked in a timid voice unlike hers.

"Oh, so you don't remember me?" the voice whispered at her.

Hermione's brain clicked the instant she heard his voice; it was the boy called Vance who was kissing his girlfriend on the fourth floor.

"W-what do you want with me?" she demanded, her voice quaking with fear. She raised her hand before realizing her wand wasn't in her hand. She had dropped it outside the door.

"To get my revenge on you, for being such a bitch that day," Vance replied simply, acting as though it was normal for him to drag people in a broom cupboard. "You know, you do look better than my girlfriend."

Hermione knew one thing was on his mind. She backed away, feeling around blindly for the knob and once she found it, she twisted on it frantically. It didn't budge. "Let me go!" she screamed. "Let me out now! Someone help me! RON!"

Vance chuckled from somewhere up in front of her. "No one's gonna help you now, prefect. It's 12:00 at night, its just us, and I plan on having some fun with you." He grabbed her roughly and pulled her back over, Hermione whimpering in pain. "Not so tough now, are you?"

Without thinking, Hermione reached down and bit Vance's fingers, causing him to release her with a yelp of pain. Hermione used this to the advantage and began beating on the door as hard as she could. "RON! RON!" she screamed hysterically. "SOMEONE HELP ME!"

She was prepared to scream some more when she then felt something sharp poking in the small of her back.

"Keep screaming, prefect," Vance told her dangerously. "I know all my Unforgivable curses, I won't hesitate to use the _Avada Kedavra _if I have to, or any of them."

"I don't care!" Hermione screamed in Vance's face, or, what she thought was. "I bet you don't even have the guts to do it!"

"You want to try me?" Vance challenged her fiercely. "Okay then..._crucio_!"

Hermione shrieked; the curse missed her and hit the wall next to her instead. Vance hadn't aimed at her properly, because of the dark. She pushed herself against the wall, shaking in fear. Vance followed her, pushing himself up against the wall with her in body to body contact. His ragged breathing approached her all at once, and the feeling of his cold, foreign lips against hers disgusted her more than anything, but she didn't dare fight back.

"That's more like it," Vance whispered as he pulled away, his hands fondling her parts roughly.

Hermione felt tears streaming from the corners of her eyes as her clothing started to peel away, least expecting the person she hated the most would come to her rescue.

------------

"Oh, Draco..."

Pansy moaned in pleasure as Draco kissed her neck very passionately, his hands caressing her thighs. "You really know your stuff..."

Draco smirked, kissing her on the lips gently before pulling back. "Of course." He glanced over to look into her face, though only to get a shock to seeing Hermione's face instead of Pansy's. He gasped, pulling away and tumbling off the bed. He jumped back up, only to see that Pansy was looking at him this time. Instead of feeling relieved, a guilty feeling began to creep inside of him.

"You okay, Dracy?" she asked concernedly.

Draco didn't answer her but frowned as the guilty feeling weighed him down even more. It dawned on him now, more than ever, was then that he was the most disgusting guy in Hogwarts. Here he was, trying to fuck a girl he didn't even like, or think was cute in the slightest. He shook his head slowly, not believing that he had actually resorted so low to this.

"What?" Pansy asked, watching as he pulled his watch into the moonlight and reading the time. "Oh, its almost 12:30! well, we have plenty of time to get busy," she added with a small smile, pulling up her nightgown the moment she said this. "Come on Dracy...take me."

Draco looked down at her nude body, a look of pure disgust on his face.

"Cover it up."

Pansy frowned, pulling down her nightgown. "What's wrong?" she asked rather impatiently. "Am I gonna get it or not?"

Draco shook his head, his disgusted look becoming more pronounced. "You slut. I'm not fucking you, not now, not ever."

Pansy watched him, eyes wide in surprise. "Dracy...you don't mean that," she told him quietly, looking thoroughly hurt.

"Yes the hell I do," Draco growled at her, throwing his robes on rather quickly. "This isn't right. I can't go through with this."

Pansy looked confused, but it then changed to anger. "This has something to do with Granger, doesn't it?" she snapped. "I knew it! She has nothing you want!"

"You don't know that!" Draco shouted at her.

"She's nothing but a nosy bookworm as flat as a floorboard!" Pansy shrieked hysterically. "_I _have what you want, Dracy. _I_ love you!"

"You love the sex," Draco said bitterly. "Have fun fucking yourself."

He slammed the door on his way out, hearing Pansy screaming in frustration as he walked. But he didn't care. This all has to be a dream he thought. Yeah... a dream. Maybe when he woke up, he wouldn't have grown as soft as he thought he would.

He arrived to the common room to discover Ron sitting at an armchair, his head resting on his shoulder and his eyes closed in silent slumber. Draco froze, staring at the red-head sleeping in the chair. Hermione always came and woke Ron up when she came back from detention (at least, when they arrived at the same time). She didn't ignore him because they had made up before she had even went to detention and did God knows what.

Draco's blood ran cold, thinking the worst. "She's in trouble," he muttered and without thinking another thought, he dashed toward the stairs, stirring up Ron in the process but rushing down the stairs before the Weasley could see him. As soon as his feet touched the grand staircase, he heard a scream. It wasn't loud, but enough to be heard by the blonde. He followed the scream quickly, hearing another one, this time growing more distinguished with every few steps. he kept walking, hoping to hear more but they suddenly stopped.

"Granger, where the hell are you?" Draco asked aloud, looking around for any signs of suspicious activity. Then suddenly, it came as clear as day. A scream, begging for help, not to far from where he stood. He rushed forward, only to be enveloped in silence again. It was hard to see because of the dim candle lights shimmering above his head. Draco cussed silently as he walked quietly, squinting around in the semi-darkness. By the time he found Hermione, she would probably be in critical-dying state, all because he had been so eager to get some action.

After several minutes of lurking around the third corridor, Draco was starting to grow restless until he heard a soft whimper. He froze, looking around for the sound when he heard it again. His eyes met the broom cupboard and he knew that something had to be up in there. As he crept closer, he pushed himself against the wall and listened hard. Another whimper came from the door, sounding feminine, followed by a slight moan and the heavy breathing of another person, sounding more masculine.

Draco frowned. Was he just paranoid and eavesdropping on a couple of students getting some action? he nearly considered this thought but slapped himself internally for being stupid. Hermione was definitely missing, and this could be the reason why. He leaned against the wall and very quietly, whispered the girl's name in the crevice of the door.

"_Granger._"

A sharp intake of breath told him that it was Hermione. Whether she was having fun or not, he was still busting in. Draco pulled away from the wall and pointed his wand at the door. The door suddenly popped from its hinges and started to fall forward. Draco ducked as the door fell to the floor, collected dust flying into the air and obscuring his vision for a while until his eyes suddenly opened up wide and mouth dropped open from the scene before him.

-------------

Hermione thought this was lasting forever. She was down to her bra and panties with this stranger. She was stuck in the closet with a boy who was attempting to seduce her into having sex. She whimpered slightly as he nipped at her neck painfully, hating the treatment he was giving her. Tears rushed from Hermione's eyes as Vance's hands felt her parts painfully, and she tried hard not to just break down and sob. Why did it have to be this way?

She decided to give up and wait till the guy was done. Nothing could possibly save her now. But then a sudden voice changed everything.

"_Granger._"

Hermione gasped suddenly, pulling away from Vance and turning towards the door. As soon as she'd done this, the door suddenly pulled off its hinges and fell to the floor with a loud thud. A cloud of dust settled from the rusty door and when it cleared, Hermione saw Draco standing there, mouth opened and eyes wide as he looked at her. For a moment, the two just stared at each other. Hermione then promptly burst into tears, pulling her robes back straight and backing up to the wall.

She was saved.

Draco glanced over at the boy he knew was in his Dark Arts class, and the next thing he knew, he had tackled Vance to the ground, punching him as hard as he could everywhere, wanting to cause as much pain as possible It was going quite good until one good punch got him right in the jaw and he flew from the boy, hitting the floor behind him, his wand flying from his hand and sliding across the floor several feet. He instantly sat up, ready for more fight but Vance was way ahead of him, pointing his wand at the blonde, breathing heavily. He raised his wand, ready to say a curse...

But Hermione, without thinking, had reacted first.

"_Expelliarmus_!"

She casted the spell almost instantly, and Draco watched as Vance's wand flew from his hand and came hurtling towards him. The blonde jumped up, caught it, and without a moment's hesitation, he shouted, "_Petrificus Totalus_!"

The boy's arms and legs snapped together and he fell to the ground, stiff as a board. Breathing heavily himself, Draco looked up and saw Hermione was standing up, her wand pointing shakily at the boy, her robes half off and her hair frizzed and all over. She slowly lowered her wand, glaring at the body with such an icy look that it sent chills even down Draco's spine. Tears were still rolling down her cheeks. Draco felt guilt weigh him down, and didn't bother to stop himself heading over to the girl.

She looked up, and Draco saw her eyes brimming with tears. He looked at her sympathetically, putting a hand to her shoulder.

"It's okay," he told her.

Wand clattering to the floor, Hermione threw her arms around Draco's waist and began sobbing hysterically. Draco stood there, a little shocked by her action and unable to hug her back. He patted her very awkwardly on the back, not knowing how to show proper affection.

Hermione pulled away moments later, sniffing. Her eyes were nearly bloodshot red, but other than that she was now composing herself.

"Don't even think about it," Draco told her, though he knew that she wouldn't forget this in a good minute. He rubbed his head awkwardly before going to retrieve his wand from the floor.

Hermione watched him, her heart beating hard against her chest. How many times was Draco gonna come to her rescue? It was now, for the first time in her life, she didn't hate Draco. He came back to her with his wand in his hand. Their eyes met and embarassingly, they turned away from each other, both of them starting to blush.

"Let's go," Hermione said quietly. "I think we both had a rough night."

Draco agreed, and the two headed back towards the prefect dormintory.

Neither of them noticed a certain red-haired boy staring at them unnoticed from the shadows of the hall.

**A/N: GO DRACO!!! (cheers) YOU GET YOUR GIRL! lol:-) I'm seriously surprised by how many of you guys reviewed me last chapter...I never recieved that many before! Thanks to those who added me to your favorites...(bows) It's an honor. The next chapter is seriously my favorite one. Dunno why. I'll try to be back in a few days or so...hope you can wait for me, and until then, please REVIEW and tell me what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey guys! Another quick update, yay:-) So last chapter was action-packed, this time, our two hopeless lovers finally figured out a little bit of their feelings, and thus marking us getting closer, but yet still so far, to the long awaited kiss! (hopefully, you expected that to come at some point in the story).**

**Chapter 10**

Draco's head was racing with mixed thoughts as soon as he woke up that morning. He could barely sleep due to the fact that he had just saved who he thought was his mortal enemy just the previous night. There was no way to express what he felt when he saw Hermione looking at him so frightened and helpless...and it made his blood boil everytime he thought about Vance (who's memory was modified now, thanks to Hermione and had no record of the incident whatsoever). It was no longer clear to him how he felt about the brunette. Was it friendship? was it more? he couldn't tell, but he had the feeling that it was no longer hatred.

After taking his time that morning (he no longer had Pansy to look forward to), he headed down to the common room and so busy in his own thoughts he didn't see a blur of red suddenly come at him. The next thing Draco knew, he was against the wall, hands curled tightly on the front of his robes as he was staring into a pair of angry blue eyes.

"What did you do to Hermione?" Ron yelled at the blonde.

Hermione was standing only a few feet away, dressed and looking frightened.

"I saved her life!" Draco pushed Ron off of him. "So this is the thanks I get? You're really rude, you know that?" he spat at the red-head.

"I saw you two last night," Ron continued breathlessly. "All over each other...I knew you had something for her..."

"It wasn't his fault!" Hermione tried to say, but Ron glared at her and she fell silent.

"Look, I was just saving her from that pervert Vance McGill," Draco said calmly, "You know, the fourth year Ravenclaw? He was trying to rape Granger for your information. He has quite a reputation of doing that."

Ron stared at him, then turned to Hermione, who nodded in agreement.

"Rape?" he repeated in a distant voice.

"Yes, Weasley, rape," Malfoy continued irritably. "You know, when you fuck someone without permission."

Ron chose to ignore the smart remark, instead demanding the blonde, "So why'd you save her? You like her now, or something?"

Draco gave him a cold look. "How I feel about Granger is none of your business," he snapped.

Ron glared back at him before turning on Hermione, who flinched instinctively. He headed toward the stairs and down, saying nothing else. There was silence in the room as Draco glanced at Hermione, and immediately noticed a purple-blackish bruise on her neck as he did so. Before he could question her about it, she had whipped out of sight in the blink of an eye.

The bell then rang, signaling the time to get to class. Draco heaved a sigh before heading down at normal pace to the entrance hall, wondering if Ron was the one who gave Hermione the bruise. He was interrupted from his train of thought when he heard someone sobbing very hard as he stepped into the Dungeons. Shivering, he headed toward that sound and instead of going straight, he turned to a dead end corridor and found Hermione, sitting on the cold floor and sobbing into her hands. She was oblivious to the fact that Draco was standing there, and didn't even notice when the blonde sank down next to her, waiting until she was done.

"You don't deserve that," he told her quietly.

Hermione jumped when she heard the voice and turned to see Draco sitting next to her. She had been so blinded by Ron, her emotions and what happened last night that she just realized that she was on the floor crying, and Draco woke her up to it. As she looked at him, she realized that he was staring at her. Hard. The look in his eyes was unknown, and shockingly, it made her feel a little secure.

"Weasley did your neck like that, I'm guessing?" Draco asked her.

Hermione broke eye contact and looked at her nails, which Draco took as a yes.

He sighed heavily as he ran his hands through his sleek hair. "You can't keep letting him treat you like that."

"But I don't know what else to do!" Hermione said in exasperation, her hands plopping on her lap hopelessly as she gazed up at the tan ceiling. "I get so scared of him when he rears up at me, and then he grabs me and..." she faded off, her cheeks turning red as she discontinued her sentence. It didn't take a genius to figure out what happened next, and Draco knew she hadn't meant to say that.

"Where's the tough Granger I met earlier this year?" he asked.

"She ran into hiding," Hermione said with a sniff.

"Well, it's time for her to come back out," said Draco. "Look, only until you truly stand up to that bone-head will he get the idea through his thick skull, that he can't control you. You know, you made a wrong choice in being his boyfriend."

"I didn't want to be his boyfriend," Hermione said quietly. "I just did it because I felt sorry for him, and I didn't know how to reject him."

"See where being nice really stabs you in the back?" Draco pointed out. "Now look...he's getting to the point where he thinks he can control you. I didn't know you were a pushover, Granger."

"I'm not!" Hermione snapped at him.

"Then prove it." Draco looked at her sternly. "Break up with him, point blank. If he loves you as much as he says he does, then he wouldn't hurt you. You deserve better."

Hermione sniffed once again and smiled slightly. "Are you suggesting yourself?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "Like I would be a better choice."

"At this point, you would be," Hermione said very quietly, her cheeks turning pink.

Draco stared at her amazed, his face red. "W-what?"

"You're being too nice to me, Malfoy." Hermione looked at him. "You've gotten soft yourself."

"N-no I haven't!" Draco snapped at her. "Stop smiling," he added irritably when she beamed at him all-knowingly. "I haven't grown soft, okay?"

"Really?" she inquiried. "So, how do you really feel about me?" She looked over at him. When he turned to look at her, it was that look again. The one she didn't recognize, the one she had never seen him make before. The one look to make her heart skip a beat, and her knees turn to jelly.

"You really want to know?" Draco asked her, edging closer towards her. "Well, I'll show you." They were nearly nose to nose. Hermione's heart was hammering hard inside her chest as Draco continued to lean towards her, their noses rubbing against one anothers now. Was he going to kiss her? she was rooted to the spot...then all of a sudden, his hands attacked her sides, and shrieking, she fell to her back, shouting in hysterics.

"Malfoy...quit!" she shrieked in laughter, trying hard to escape Draco's tickling fingers. "Okay okay, I give!" She quit laughing to discover that Draco was hovering over her, hands resting on either side of her. She beamed at him, and surprisingly, he returned the smile back. But then as the seconds rolled by, the two started to notice that they were in the most awkward of positions. Draco's lower half was pinned against her lower half, and to any suspecting passerbys, it would've looked like they were trying to get some "business" done.

"Erm...Draco, what's that poking my navel?" Hermione asked him curiously.

"My wand!" Draco said quickly, his cheeks turning red. He jumped up and began to fiddle with his robes, hiding a red face as Hermione watched him suspiciously.

"Feel any better?" he asked, turning to her with his face completely normal.

"Yeah," said Hermione, sighing. She took a moment of silence to look at Draco, and then she smiled. "You know, you really are more pleasant like this."

Draco said nothing, but looked at his wrist for the time. "Well, Granger, Its been great, really...but there's only five seconds left for class. Later!"

"Hey wait!" Hermione called after him as he suddenly ran from her. "Wait Malfoy!" She started after him and eventually caught up with him, suprised by her agility. They were neck and neck, racing to the potions class. The bell rang finally right when they both ran into the classroom, panting slightly. The full classroom stared at them, including Snape.

"Oh, Malfoy! what you breathin' so hard for, huh?" Seamus Finnigan called out. "You and Hermione did a few things?"

The Griffindors made oohing noises while the Slytherins jeered.

"HELL NO!" Draco and Hermione both shouted.

"Ten points from Griffindor and Slytherin," Snape said to the two students as the class roared with laughter. "Sit down, or more points will be reducted. There's no need to exploit your business out, though Draco, I thought you'd make a _better_ choice, not worse."

The classroom went silent immediately. Hermione stared at Snape in suprise before a hurt look then overcame her features as she went to her seat next to Ron. She refused to look over at Ron but instead looked over at Draco, who seemed ready to argue.

"Excuse me _sir_, but it's really none of your business who I chose to befriend," he said calmly back, staring Snape straight in the eyes.

"Don't push it, Draco," whispered Snape, his eyes glittering dangerously.

Draco opened his mouth to argue even more, but his eyes suddenly met Hermione's and he stopped himself. She was shaking her head slightly. Draco closed his mouth, glaring at Snape and marched to his seat, throwing his bag down and plopping in his chair. Because Snape made that comment, Draco decided not to listen to the lesson of the day.

Why do teachers think they're _always_ right?

While Snape did the _blah blah blahs _in the blonde's ears, he glanced around the room and his eyes caught on to Hermione across from him, and was surprised to see that she wasn't really paying attention herself. Her head was propped in her hand and although she seemed to be alert, her eyes had a glassy, distant look to them. Inspired by an idea, Draco then reached for his parchment, ripped half of it slowly as to not make much noise, scribbled something on it with his quill and rolling it up, he glanced at Snape before throwing it at Hermione.

Hermione was wondering what Ron was thinking when she felt something hit her cheek. Glancing down, it was a folded note with her name on it. She looked around the room and caught Draco's eye, and he was looking at her expectantly. Realizing that it was him who sent the note, Hermione saw that out the corner of her eye, Ron was playing tic-tac-toe with Harry next to him. She sat back in her chair, casually bringing the note into her lap and opening it up:

**Weasley is such a git, ignore him. **

Hermione glanced at Ron, who was too busy in tic-tac-toe to notice her. She grabbed her quill and quickly scribbled back:

**I can't. I mean, I don't understand him. The other day, he told me that he loved me. He isn't acting like he loves me. In anycase, he told me that you gave him a little lecture on love. Did you **_**really**_

Snape was busy writing ingredients on the board. Hermione flicked the paper back over to Draco, who caught it cleverly before it hit the floor. He opened it up, read its contents and raised his eyebrows. He wrote for about five seconds before throwing it back to Hermione. Hermione watched Snape, pretending to listen to the lesson. When he finally assigned them bookwork, she propped the book up against the table in her lap, blocking her hands from view as she opened the note:

**Yeah, I mean, I guess I seen what love is, and right now, thats called ignorant. Why do you ask?**

Hermione glanced over at the blonde to discover that he was looking at her, his eyebrows still raised. She could see the curiousity in his eyes. She picked up her quill and wrote back:

**Because I thought you hated me.**

Hermione folded it back up and flicked it back to Draco. Draco quickly grabbed it and dove his hands in his lap as Snape glanced up to look around. When the coast was clear, he opened the note, his fingers trembling with excitment. He read the reply and felt his heart beating hard against his chest. He glanced over at Hermione and she was pretending to read. Well, there's no way he'd admit it to her, he was gonna get the answer outta her first.

Hermione waited for Draco to finish the note, trying to collect herself. At this point, Draco's been more like a friend to her than anyone else, comforting her and saving her from a few sticky situations. She couldn't deny it anymore. She liked him. But to what extent, she didn't know. It was so confusing. She liked Ron already. Or did she? The note landed right in front of her, disturbing her train of thought. She opened it slowly, nearly afraid of what she might see.

**Well, same here. So now what?**

Draco watched Hermione's reaction and was surprised to see her cheeks flush heavily as she avoided his gaze. He had expected her to give him a stern look and then write her response, no questions asked. But she was taking her time. Then after what seemed like forever, she slowly wrote a response, checked for Snape and then tossed the parchment.

Draco got it midair and opened it almost immediately, not bothering to check for the teacher.

**I don't hate you. On the contrary, you're like a friend to me. And you?**

Draco gasped, and many eyes turned to him. "Oh...I just got a papercut," he said to everyone. Hermione was definitely avoiding his eyes now. He pretended to suck the imaginary blood from his index finger while everyone turned back to their work. Snape looked at him a bit longer but turned back to grading homework papers. Draco just sat there in disbelief. That was an answer he wasn't expecting. So know Hermione _likes_ him? Were pigs flying? Was the world coming to an end? Maybe not, but now he could probably tell her about his own feelings. He scribbled a response, and then just as he was about to toss it...

"Stop right there, Draco."

The class looked up as Snape walked swiftly over to the blonde. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked quietly, looking at the note. "Your not reading."

"Great job, sir, you guessed right," Draco said sarcastically.

Snape narrowed his eyes.

"Hand over the note right now."

Draco's smug look quickly faded off his face. "W-what?"

Snape was the one who smirked now. "Not so tough now huh? I guess the class will discover your little secrets. Now hand it over."

Draco hesitated a while, but before he could move, Snape reached across the table and grabbed it himself. As soon as he opened the paper, he yelped and threw it back at Draco. Draco grabbed it, confused but as he looked at Snape he saw why he dropped it. large purple dots began to appear on his face, the word GIT now visible on his face. Everyone began to laugh at the teacher. Draco looked amazed over at Hermione and she winked at him.

The bell rang. Hermione gathered her stuff together as everyone began to file out. She avoided Ron's eyes as he passed by her silently, and with all her stuff, she was the last to leave the room. As she walked to the door, she noticed a folded up piece of paper on Draco's desk. She snatched it up and rushed out the room before Snape could yell at her more. In the midst of the crowd, Hermione unfolded it to read Draco's reply.

**I feel the same way too.**

**A/N: Another day, another chapter. This is my favorite chapter, because its a complete turning point. Now next chapter, that Inner Hermione is gonna come out, and she's gonna do something that I'm SURE you guys were hoping she'd do a LONG time ago since the story started. Ron's gonna act like a jerk AGAIN next chapter, so be prepared for that. In the meantime, I hope you guys enjoyed the read...I'll try to be back in a few days or so.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N:... Uh, enjoy the chapter? **

**Chapter 11**

"Did you see Hermione and Malfoy?" Ron asked Harry and Ginny later on that evening in the Griffindor common room.

Harry and Ginny shook their heads.

"They were passing notes to each other!" Ron stood up from his armchair, beginning to pace. "You know what, Hermione's being a little too friendly with him..."

"Or you're being a bit over-protective," Ginny muttered.

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

Ron growled loudly. "He's manipulating her. He's trying to get to me. Well you know what? I didn't think Malfoy would sink this low, but enough's enough!" he concluded. "I'm gonna give that stupid git a piece of my mind!"

"Ron-" Harry tried to say, but Ron had already headed out of the portrait hole.

Harry and Ginny looked at each other.

"You know, I'd never thought I'd say this, but we gotta go help him out," said Harry as he stood up.

"Before Ron kills him," Ginny added as the two hurried out of the portrait hole.

---------------------

"This is your last night of detention," Snape told later on that night after dinner.

Draco and Hermione glanced at each other with gleeful looks.

"But...for that scene you two displayed earlier, I'm putting you on an extended time," Snape told them with a smirk. "You'll be working till one in the morning."

Draco and Hermione's smiles wiped right off their faces.

Snape smirked. "Have fun," he said to them before turning on the spot and heading out.

Draco and Hermione stared speechless after him, then turned to look at each other. Draco instantly turned away and headed toward the stack, only to be stopped by his name being called for.

"Malfoy."

As he stopped and turned, Hermione blushed as soon as they made eye contact. She looked at her hands. "You're not lying?" she asked him quietly. "You...really feel like that about me?"

"Would I lie, Granger?" Draco asked as he sent books flying to their destination.

"Yeah, actually, you would," said Hermione, casting the spell as Draco smirked at her answer. "But, I guess you're not lying, especially after you tickled me..." she smirked back at him. "I felt that, by the way."

Draco blushed rapidly. "That was my wand, okay?" he snapped, feeling annoyed by Hermione's smirk, which continued to grow wider as he did nervous. "What about you then?" he said irritably, watching the books soar in the air.

Hermione, who had also done the spell, looked at him. "Yeah, I meant what I said."

"Okay," said Draco, continuing to watch the books. "So were _friends_ and all that...take some friendly advice and break up with that git you call your boyfriend."

Hermione bit her lip hesitantly and she turned away from him. "I...can't."

"Why are you still stuck on him?" interrupted Malfoy, turning to her. "He fucking hit you, for God's sake."

Hermione touched the purplish-black bruise on her neck and winced a little. "It was my fault anyway, I shoved him and-"

"That's still no reason to hit a girl!" Draco exclaimed. "Especially you!"

"Because you love me, right?" asked Hermione, the know-it-all smirk coming back to her face.

"Shut up!" Draco snapped at her, his face growing red again.

"Malfoy loves me, Malfoy loves me," Hermione sang, twirling in circles. "Malfoy's fallen in love with me..."

"You're right."

Hermione immediately stopped spinning.

"W-what?" she stuttered, not believing her ears.

Draco came to her. "You're right. I have fallen in love with you."

Hermione gaped at him, mouth open.

"I want us to get married," he continued to say, "and have children, and grow old together...HA! in your dreams!" he burst into laughter. "You should've seen the look on your face."

Hermione growled as she hit him against the arm, only just to hear the sound of the door opening. She whirled around, the books all around her falling to the floor.

"I didn't do it, she did!" shouted Draco, pointing to Hermione. But it wasn't Snape walking towards them. It was Ron. He watched as he went up to Hermione, looking serious.

"We need to talk," he said quietly, glancing at Draco.

Hermione crossed her arms. "There's nothing to talk about."

"Hermione, please," Ron pleaded with her.

"She said there's nothing to talk about, Weasley," said Draco, glaring at the red-head. "In case you didn't notice, we're in detention."

"No one was talking to you, Malfoy," Ron snapped back. "Unlike you, I have priorities to take care of!"

"Well you're not taking good care of them!" Draco retorted, gesturing at Hermione's neck.

"It was an accident," Ron said coldly.

"You know full well it wasn't an accident," said Draco, his hands curling into fists.

"Why do you care anyway?" Ron spat at him. "Why don't you go fuck Pansy, like you do every other girl in the school?"

Draco, who was already on the edge, lost it after holding it in for so long. He pounced on Ron, dragging him to the floor, and began punching him as hard as he could. "Take that back!" he shouted, aiming a punch straight to the red-head's face. "Take it back NOW!"

"STOP!" shouted Hermione, but she wasn't heard.

Ron eventually found himself and shoved Draco off of him. He scrambled to his feet, grabbing his wand. Hermione looked at him in horror, and seeing Draco look up at him with the same fear, she knew what was about to happen. Ron pointed his wand straight at Draco's heart and yelled, "_Crucio_!"

Hermione reacted on instinct. She found herself diving towards Malfoy, shoving him out the way, and the next moment, she was in the way of Ron's spell. The curse hit her with the feeling of fire piercing her body. A scream was echoing loudly around her ears, defeaning. Her eyes could only see pure white. _Someone help me _said a small voice in his head. _Make it stop..._She felt like she was on the brink to insanity...

Then, it stopped. Hermione next found herself on the ground. The screaming, she realized, was coming from her own mouth, and as soon as she realized this she stopped. Her eardrums were pulsing heavily, her skin was prickling painfully. Her eyes could make out a ceiling, and as she looked around she stared right into a pair of surprised hazel eyes.

Draco finally heaved a sigh as he realized that Hermione was alive. Ron hadn't meant it fully to really hurt Hermione, but seeing as how she'd never been on the recieving line of many Unforgivable Curses, it hurt alot. She would've been done more damage if he hadn't have sent a stunning spell over the red-head's shoulder.

Draco blinked, only to discover that she was no longer there. In what felt like a split second, Hermione had reappeared on top of Ron, her face red, her fists blurred in combat as she tried to give Ron a piece of her mind, Ron cowering by trying to protect himself.

Draco's mouth dropped open.

"BASTARD!" Hermione screamed, aiming instead for Ron's ribcage, punching as hard as she could muster. "FILTHY COWARD!"

"Hermione, geroff...ow! OW! STOP!" Ron was trying to grab her fists of fury, but was very unsuccessful.

"I'LL-KILL-YOU!" Hermione punctuated every word with a punch, trying as hard as she could to do damage. "I'LL-BLOODY-KILL-YOU!"

She would've possibly killed Ron if Draco, along with the combined forces of Harry and Ginny, had nearly all their strength to pull her back. Ron was whimpering in pain, his nose and lip heavily bleeding. Draco felt no sympathy for the boy; if it were his choice, he would've let Hermione kill him.

"We came down as soon as Ron said that he was gonna give Malfoy a piece of his mind," said Harry as he struggled to keep Hermione in his grip. "What happened?"

"Why don't you ask Weasley?" Draco said sharply, "He had the guts to do an Unforgivable Curse."

Harry and Ginny dropped their mouths open.

"What are you playing at?" Ginny asked angrily at the red-head.

"I was aiming for Malfoy!" Ron argued back, wiping away the blood at his lip. "He jumped all over me-"

"Before you accused me of fucking all the girls in the school," Draco interrupted, "which-"

"deserved a nice old punch in the face!" Hermione spat.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked Hermione.

Hermione nodded silently. She no longer struggled but her face was so deadly looking that Ron could not even get the courage to look in her direction.

"Ron, there was no need to resort to an Unforgivable Curse," said Harry, looking grim.

"Don't tell me that!" Ron snapped. "You'd always wanted to do it yourself!"

"That was when I hated Malfoy," Harry said simply.

Ron stared at Harry. "What?"

"Ever since you've started dating Hermione, you've been an over-protective jackass," Ginny said firmly. "Malfoy's not even the bad guy anymore, he's the victim."

"What?" Ron started to laugh. "You guys are kidding me! This is Malfoy you're talking about, the son of a Death Eater!" he shook his head slowly. "You've been brainwashed..."

"No." Hermione looked up at Ron in the eyes, her voice shaking slightly from anger and sadness. "_You've_ been brainwashed, Ron."

"I don't even know you anymore, mate," said Harry sadly.

Ron just looked around at everyone, unable to process the moment. Finally, he turned towards the door and walked straight out, not saying another word. Everyone watched as he walked out and headed away.

Draco turned to Hermione, who had tears risen in her eyes. There was no other explanation for her beating up Ron like she did but trying to defend his honor. A strange feeling rose inside of him, and it was stronger than any other he'd felt before.

"Granger..."

Hermione looked over at Draco and burst into tears, burying her head inside his shirt. Harry and Ginny instantly came to her side, trying to comfort her.

"You know, Malfoy, you did a good thing out there," said Ginny.

"I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad that you were here for her," said Harry.

"Me too," Draco said quietly, stroking Hermione's back gently. "Me too."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Incase you wanted to ask me, this is indeed one of the fluffy chapters. Prepare your oohs and ahhs now.**

**Chapter 12**

"You got the antidote to bowtruckle bites all wrong," Hermione told Draco a saturday in mid-November as they sat under a big oak tree outside on the grounds. "You need to add in a few hairs from a grey wolf. Niffler hairs have no effect."

Draco sighed very loudly. "Can I finish my sentence please?" he complained. "God, why do you have to know it all?"

"I don't know it all, I'm just smarter than you," Hermione teased the blonde.

Draco rolled his eyes as everyone laughed. He'd never thought in a million years that he'd be sitting here, lavishing in the company of three people he couldn't stand only a month ago. He was especially surprised when Harry and Ginny had jumped to his side and believed his intentions, which for once, were good.

"How have you been dodging Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy?" Ginny asked Draco.

"Easy," Draco replied. "I told Pansy to fuck off, and I told Crabbe and Goyle I was constipated. That's one place they don't follow me."

Hermione giggled. She was laying over the fellow Slytherin's legs comfortably, while he sat against the tree. Ginny was doing the same to Harry. "Let me see what you've done so far."

"She'll do the rest," Harry whispered over to Draco as Hermione took his paper.

"No I won't," Hermione spoke up as she marked his paper.

"I'll just cheat off her in class," Draco muttered back. Ginny covered her mouth to keep from giggling out loud. He looked around, making sure the coast was clear from his usual crowd when he saw Ron, Seamus and Dean feet away. Ron, who had been looking over, turned back around when he saw Malfoy's gaze.

"So..." Harry, who had noticed Ron as well, abruptly changed subjects. "Who's doing what for Thanksgiving break?"

"Me and my family were going to the beach," Hermione stated, "You guys can come if you want."

"I'd love to," Harry said instantly. Draco and Ginny looked at each other in confusion.

"Beach?" Ginny and Draco repeated.

"What do you do there?" Draco asked Hermione with raised eyebrows.

"Well see, it's quite simple," Hermione said with a small smile...

---------------

"Are you done yet?" Draco asked Hermione outside the bathroom door the very next day at the brunette's house.

"Come on Hermione, it can't be that bad," Ginny assured her.

A few seconds later, Hermione came out with a towel wrapped tightly around her body. "I'm ready," she said to the others nervously.

Ginny, Harry and Draco threw each other exasperated looks before walking to Mr. and Mrs. Granger's minivan. Ginny was wearing a bikini (which she had nearly threatened Hermione to buy for her), and had no problem in revealing her body (Harry couldn't keep his eyes away from her). Draco, on the other hand, was more anxious to see Hermione's figure since Ginny had hinted off several times that she was also wearing a bikini. She seemed so embarassed of it, and in return, Draco was embarassed about showing half of himself bare.

"Everyone got their materials?" Mr. Granger asked as he got into the driver's seat, Mrs. Granger in the passenger.

"Yes," the teens chorused together.

Then they were off. The weather was very un-November like, highs in the mid eighties which resulted in the plan of the beach (A/N: Where I live, the temperatures were in the eighties in November, seriously. Sad huh?) It was an hour and a half drive, during which Hermione leaned her head against Draco's shoulder and snoozed the whole time, only to wake up with Draco shaking her slightly. She stretched before stepping out, towel around her waist still. Draco was so tempted to snatch the towel off but he didn't want to make a bad impression on her parents, who knew who his parents were and had eyed him suspiciously the whole time.

"Wow!" Ginny was next to Harry. "The beach is beautiful!"

"Yeah, let's go!" Harry took Ginny's hand and laughing, they ran all the way to the cold waters.

"It is beautiful isn't it?" Hermione asked quietly as she watched them run.

"I guess." Draco looked with her and saw that it was a pretty sight (though he didn't say it out loud). The waters matched the sky, rising high and low as it hit the shore. The sand felt like playdough between his bare toes, and a never-ending wind was hitting him gently. "So this is it?"

"Yep," Hermione said. She glanced at Draco to see that he was stripping off his T-shirt. She stared, her heart hammering against her chest when she finally saw his bare torso. Her eyes couldn't help but skim over his rock hard abs. Even more impressive than she had imagined. When he looked over at her, he noticed her staring and his face turned a beet red.

"I'll cover it back up then, sheesh," he grumbled as he reached for his t-shirt on the ground.

"No!" Hermione exclaimed.

Draco turned to look at her. "What?"

"I didn't say it was bad," she muttered, her own cheeks flushing slightly.

"Oh, so you like it." Draco grinned over at her.

Hermione resorted to proping a lime green umbrella in the sand, and Draco knew that it was her way of saying yes.

"Your turn," he said as he reached for the towel around her body.

"Hey!" Hermione jumped back, looking bewildered. "Watch it!"

"I showed you my package, now return the favor," Draco pressured her.

Hermione's cheeks were blazing red. "B-but..."

"Weasley and Potter are all the way down there," said Draco as he jerked in the direction of the two splashing in the water several feet away. "Your mum and dad went to go get some lunch, so what's the big deal? you wore it in front of yourself, you can wear it in front of other people!"

"There's a difference, you know..." Hermione was about to elaborate but seeing the look on Draco's face she stopped herself. Sighing loudly, she reached for the knot at her side. "Okay then, what the hell...go ahead, laugh all you want." she finally got finished and let the towel drop to her feet.

Draco's eyes were in for a suprise as he saw a fully figured woman standing in front of him, wearing a blue polka-dotted bikini. He had always looked at Hermione as a flat girl, but age really did make a difference. Her curves were amazing to his eyes, and he could tell from the past and now that she had definitely done some heavy maturing, and hopefully, none of it was fake.

"Are you happy now?" Hermione grumbled as she reached for her towel.

"Hell yeah!" Draco blurted out.

"What?" Hermione looked at him in surprise.

"I said, sure, I guess," Draco lied smoothly, his cheeks going red again.

"No you didn't." Hermione narrowed her eyes at him as she took a step closer. "You're a pervert, Malfoy."

"I am not!" Draco said hotly, stepping backwards away from her as she edged closer.

"Are you sure about that?" Hermione stepped forward again, this time without seeing the slope underneath her foot. The sand beneath her feet sunk down suddenly, caving in. Draco instantly bent forward to get her before she got hurt, but he found himself sinking with her. Hermione shrieked the whole way down to the ground, throwing her arms around Draco's neck tightly for support as they landed safely on the ground with their feet.

"Granger, you're such a drama queen," Draco told the girl as she openly blushed at the three feet of sand they just slid down.

"Erm...sorry." She turned towards him, only for her nose to rub gently against his. Her arms were still locked strongly around his neck, and she could feel his hands resting gently on her waist. His usually dark eyes were now hazel, and they were deep inside her honey brown ones in a way that made the brunette want to lean over and...

"A hem."

Draco and Hermione pulled away from each other quickly to see Ginny and Harry looking at them, amused.

"It's not what it looks like," they said quickly.

"Sure..." Harry was grinning slyly. "The food's here guys, lets eat."

Hermione went after her food, now self-conscious about her body. What would've happened if Ginny and Harry hadn't have come in? she wondered. Would she have kissed Malfoy? _Nah_ she thought, _I was just caught up in the moment, that's all, and he obviously was too_. But that look on his face didn't thoroughly convince her enough. In the meantime, she had to find a towel, because she didn't like the idea of parading around in a bikini for the world, and Draco, to see.

Draco was feeling the same way Hermione did, wondering what would've happened if Harry and Ginny hadn't have stepped in. Nothing, he tried to convince himself. It was his mind's way of saying that he wanted some action, but he wasn't looking for action or anything of the sort. He just wanted a nice, solid, healthy relationship, was that so wrong? Though, with Hermione walking around in a bikini and showing off her womanly goods, it wasn't helping at all.

Finally, it was nearly dark. The gang went to a beachhouse that had a perfect view of the ocean, seperate from Mr. and Mrs. Granger's beachhouse. Everyone had put on their nightclothes, and talked, all of them eventually falling asleep except for Hermione, who was not the least bit tired. Several minutes later, she got up carefully and slipped her feet into her flip-flops and eased her way out the room, meeting warm, salty air. Hermione approached the shore, slipping her sandals off and sitting down, letting the waves run over her toes.

"Couldn't sleep either?"

Hermione turned and saw Draco approaching her. "Yeah," she said as Draco sat next to her, his bare feet getting wet from the water.

Draco looked over at her. "What's on your mind?" he could tell that she was bothered by something from the way she looked out into the waters.

"Alot of things," said Hermione, wiping away the tears that had threatened to fall from her eyes. "I don't even want to go through with it right now." She tried not to show it through her voice, but Draco looked over at her and seemed to already know what was going on.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"No," Hermione lied, though the crackling of her voice gave her away. "I'm fine..."

But the next thing she knew, her face was pressed up against the warmth of Draco's wife-beater, his arms gently holding her.

"No you're not," said Draco softly. "Just let it go."

With his permission, Hermione began to cry, harder than she had ever cried before. Draco just held her, running his hand through her hair, waiting for her to finish. After what seemed like forever, Hermione eventually came to a stop, sniffling and taking deep shuddering breaths.

"Good now?" Draco asked, still holding on to her.

"Yeah," said Hermione softly, closing her eyes to inhale his scent. He always smelled good, like fresh laundry, and tonight was no different. Her heart was sent off course again as she took a moment to sink in the moment of them so close together. Months ago, this would've never happened (and if it did the two would've been sure to kill each other before then).

"Malfoy?"

"Yeah?"

"How'd you get here? I mean...what did you tell your parents?"

"Oh...I told them that I wanted to go over Crabbe's house for the holidays," Draco said with a shrug. "They're not gonna check, so I'm good. Your parents have been watching me closely all day, like paparazzi."

Hermione laughed. "I kinda told them some not so nice things about you," she said, sounding sincere. "Hopefully, you won't take that offensively as I don't feel that way about you anymore."

"None taken," said Draco.

There was a silence after that and the two simply rested against one another, looking out into the ocean and sky, divulged in their own seperate thoughts. Hermione tore away from her mind to glance up at the blonde. He was staring up at the moon, his eyes glazed over, and she knew that he was thinking about something.

"Malfoy?"

"Huh?"

"Is...is your heart beating fast? like mine?"

"Let's see." Draco put his hand lightly to her chest, sending a wave of chills down Hermione's spine. Then he grabbed Hermione's hand and placed it over his chest. Hermione could feel his heart beating just as fast as hers.

"What do you suppose it means?" Hermione asked him, craning her head to look up at him.

Draco looked down at her and just gazed into her innocent brown eyes, smiling slightly at her anxious expression. He took his hand and lightly traced her cheekbone, watching her eyes close at his touch. "I don't know," he admitted to her, letting his hand trace farther down. "But...it's kinda nice, you know?"

Hermione watched his hand, which was slowly trailing over her shoulder and down her arm. Goosebumps prickled on top of her skin. She'd never felt a touch quite like his...and it was pretty relaxing. She sighed before closing her eyes again. If only Ron could treat her like this...then things would be really smooth.

"I agree," she told him.

Draco continued to trace his fingers up and down her arm, enjoying the feel of her soft skin. He glanced down to see a reaction from Hermione, but he found that she was breathing deeply, her eyes closed. She had fell asleep under his tender touch. Her face was completely lax now, and she looked at peace for the night. He didn't know why he found this so fascinating. Was it due to the fact that he had developed such strong feelings for her, that he could barely stop thinking about her?

_Friends._

As Draco leaned his head against Hermione's and closed his own eyes, he thought about this one time in his life, he felt like he actually belonged in the world.

**A/N: So how was this chapter? I like it because its the start of Draco and Hermione starting to fall for each other. Unfortunately, you might not be happy with me in the next few chapters, as Hermione and Draco have a split in their relationship. Yes, they broke away from each other but ONLY momentarily...Love conquers all, incase you didn't notice. I would love to give you a heads up on what's going to happen next chapter, but I can't, because then it would give away the whole thing. I just hope you all stay tuned and keep on supporting me.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:**** Sorry for the ridiculously long delay. Schedule seemed sort of hectic once Christmas and New Years came around. Believe me, this will definitely be the longest update I'll ever make under the circumstances of this story. **

**Speaking of the story, this is where Draco and Hermione have a split in their relationship, but its very temporary. **

**Speaking of temporary, it has been decided that now you have two more chapters to enjoy, three if you consider the epilogue to be a chapter. Sorry to drop the bomb, but it had to end some time right? I was planning on ending the story a while ago...it wasn't supposed to be this long. And stories that have 30+ chapters are really mind-boggling. I don't think I have enough creative juices to keep me flowing, inspiration dies on me after quite some time.**

**So here's your belated Christmas/New Years present. My resolution was to update faster, so later on this week, you'll be getting a more recent update. I'm sorry if you read all of this. I'm a girl, you know how we do. :-)**

Chapter 13

The day of Thanksgiving meant a day to be thankful. Hermione, Ginny and Harry had been invited to the Weasley's house the day before the special occasion. Ginny and Harry were all for the idea, but Hermione was slightly hesitant.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked as the brunette stared at her letter that morning at breakfast.

Harry nudged Ginny in the side, gesturing over at the Slytherin table where Draco was laughing loudly with his friends. "It's obvious, right?"

Hermione looked over at the blonde, who was too busy playing the supposed bad guy to notice. "How would he feel about this?" she asked aloud. "I want to go, and then I want to stay too..."

"Hermione, if you stay with Malfoy then people would start to see that you two were friends," said Ginny, "and when they see that, all sorts of heckling will start."

She proved a point, though Hermione didn't want to think about it. With a heavy sigh, she stood up and headed out of the Great Hall, looking over at the Slytherin table and hoping to catch Draco's eye. He looked over at her just as she reached the door. She raised her eyebrows before leaving the room.

Draco looked down at his friends, who were still laughing at a joke he told. "If you think that's funny, then I'll get this article from the Daily Prophet a few days ago," he told his friends with a large, boisterous smile and with that being said he left the Great Hall in a hurry, heading all the way to the Prefects dormintory where he met Hermione leaning against the wall.

When he caught her sad expression, he went over to lean next to her. "Lemme guess...Weasley, right?"

Hermione nodded. "I've been invited by his mum to Thanksgiving for three days."

"Are you going?" Draco asked her, though he already knew the answer.

"I want to," Hermione told him, "but I don't want to face Ron...I'm afraid he'll hurt me again. But I really want to see his mum and dad and the rest of the family."

"Then ignore him," said Draco. "Your a tough girl, Granger. I'm sure you could survive it there."

Hermione raised an eyebrow at him. "That's flattering, Malfoy, considering your standards."

"You're welcome," said Draco, smiling at her. His eyes glanced over at her ears. "You have new earrings?"

Hermione was taken back. "You noticed?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah," said Draco with a slight shrug. "I notice alot of things about you."

That statment made Hermione blush. The new earrings she had barely differed from her last ones. Both of them were hooped, but her new pair had a different pattern on it, hardly noticable unless someone payed close attention. Did that mean Malfoy was paying close attention to her?

"So you think you know me?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow.

Draco shrugged again. "I dunno."

"What's my favorite color, then?" Hermione challenged him.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Well, for one, your quill is a light blue color. The ribbon in your hair is light blue, your shirt is light blue...What else?"

"My favorite book?" Hermione challenged.

"Knowing your smart-ass, and judging from all the quoting you've done, it's _Hogwarts, A History_," Draco said with a wave of his hand. "Satisfied yet?"

Hermione, who's face was bright red, nodded with her face downcasted. "I guess I'll see you later then," she murmured.

"Have fun..." Draco smirked as he watched her go. He knew that he had surprised her by answering her questions so accurately; he had suprised himself as well. He never knew that he had studied her that closely. Then again, they were friends.

Or were they more?

"Oh _Dracy..._"

Draco turned to see that Pansy was leaning outside her door, a wide smirk on her face.

"What do _you_ want?" he said rudely.

"So how are things between you and Granger?" Pansy asked him, using an annoying baby-voice that resembled Umbridge.

"None of your damn business," Draco said firmly, turning towards the exit.

"Maybe some people would consider it their business..." Pansy called to Draco as he walked out, "Maybe Crabbe, Goyle or Blaise?"

This made Draco stop at the foot of the stairs. Pansy's smirk widened even further as Draco paled significantly.

"W-What?" he stuttered,

"I think Slytherin would be interested to know in you dating a Mudblood..." Pansy said in a sing-song voice.

"_Don't you call her that_!" Draco roared, advancing towards the girl.

Pansy shrunk back, slightly frightened. "G-get away f-from me!"

Draco came so close, that the two were nearly nose to nose. "What are you gonna do?"

Pansy stared at him a moment before throwing her arms around him and thrusting forward, her lips colliding roughly with his. Draco's eyes widened in surprise as he stood rooted to the spot, too surprised to move. Pansy pulled away, smiling rather evilly over his shoulder. Draco slowly turned around to see a blur of brown hair suddenly rush back down the stairs.

Hermione had seen them.

A defeaning silence entered the room as Draco stared after the stairs. A slight ringing was in his ears as the anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach and he found the last twig snapping in half. Before he knew it, he had whirled around to face the girl and threw his hands around her neck, squeezing tight. Pansy gasped in surprise, and began to claw at his hands.

"S-stop!" she choked out, tears pouring from her eyes. "S-stop!"

"If you tell anybody about us, then you're gonna get it," Draco snarled at her.

He so tempted to squeeze more and crack her thin little neck into two pieces. But lucky him, his conscience wouldn't let him do it. Instead, he watched her struggle to breathe with a heavy satisfaction before reluctantly letting her go. Pansy sank to the floor, coughing, gasping and crying for breath as Draco ran down the stairs. He could care less about how she was feeling. The only thing he cared about was Hermione, and as he rushed down the stairs he was hoping that she would listen to him.

But as soon as his feet hit the floor, he saw the group of students who were leaving exiting out the door. Hermione was in the very front, and as right before she left out the door, she glanced over her shoulder and looked right into his eyes. They were full of tears, full of anguish, and as she left out the door, Draco cussed very loudly and hit his fist against the wall.

"What's with you?" Crabbe and Goyle were at his side.

Draco looked at them for a second before his heart began to lift inside his chest. It wasn't too late to talk to Hermione. He could still mail her an owl. He could explain everything in the letter. And if that didn't work, then he'd just have to leave the castle. He began to dash away from Crabbe and Goyle and toward the Owlery, ignoring their repeated calls for him. If he made it in time, he could probably convince Hermione before she finally made up her mind about him.

**A/N: And a part of me still wishes that he had really killed her...I mean really, there's no use for Pansy **_**at all**_**...she's just a waste of precious air and space. Don't you agree? Aside from that, please, feel free to tell me what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Now some of you made me feel a little guilty when it came to ending the story. My mind is now undecided as to whether to continue it or not. I'll tell you next time when I officially made my mind up, it'll give me some time to think.**

**Speaking of thinking, I have final exams coming up (I'm in 11th grade). So I'm forcing myself to stop ditching schoolwork for fanfiction, and to get off my lazy ass and force myself to study. My Psychology/Sociology exam is tomorrow, wish me luck everyone! (crosses fingers)**

**Now back to the story. I apologize in advance to all the Ron fans out there, but his role in the story, and pretty much every other story I write, involves him acting like a complete arse. As far as Draco and Hermione goes...well, you'll see what Draco finally realizes when you read. **

**Chapter dedicated to Mokimo, thank you for your very colorful reviews...:-) (They went to the beach around the same time as November, as I sometimes do...our weather here is very warm for some reason.)**

**Chapter 14**

Hermione barely remembered the trip going to Mrs. Weasley's house. All she remembered is getting on the train and the next thing she knew, she was bound in a tight, breath-taking hug.

"Mrs. Weasley...can't...breathe..."

"Oh dear, I'm sorry!" Mrs. Weasley looked sincere as she watched Hermione struggling to get her breath back. "You look lovely today, dear."

Hermione blushed as Mrs. Weasley eyed her pink blouse, short skirt and sandals. "Thanks, Mrs. Weasley."

"Come in everyone!" Mrs. Weasley opened the front door for Ron, Harry, Ginny and Hermione to walk through. "Make yourselves at home! hurry on, now! Hello, Harry! oh you look so thin, dear!" she added when she pulled the boy to the side and measured him up and down. "You're gonna do plenty of eating in a day or so."

Harry threw Hermione Ginny an exasperated look. The girls giggled as they stepped inside the warm, welcoming home of the Weasleys. It was nice and tidy in the inside, just as Hermione had always noticed as she went in. The only exception was that the room was nearly packed with people talking and waiting. They went silent as the visitors stepped in the room.

"It's that Potter boy!" Fred Weasley pushed his way through and pointed directly at Harry. "And his crew!"

"Jolly good!" George came in after him and the two of them vigorously started to shake everyone's hands.

Remus Lupin shook everyone's hands as well as they came in; Mad Eye Moody was sitting at the table with a grisled smile, his normal eye on Hermione but his fake eye swirling around in its socket as usual; Nymphadora Tonks jumped up, knocking the chair and her glass of water on the floor as she went to shake the teen's hands; Charlie and Bill and Mr. Weasley greeted them with a friendly wave and Mundungus Fletcher was knocked out in the corner of the room, giving a slight hiccup at all the commotion in the room.

"He just _insisted _on coming," said Mrs. Weasley as she saw Hermione glance over Mundungus. Her nose crinkled slightly as she scanned the man with a frown. Hermione knew that if it were Mrs. Weasley's choice, she would not let such a dirty, scraggly man inside her house.

"Let's get this feast started guys!" Fred called out.

Everyone cheered and instantly went at work. There were so many people in the house that Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny found themselves free from any labor. This was a good thing because Hermione wanted to go to Ginny's room to put her stuff away and relax.

As she arrived in her best friend's room, she laid back on the pillow, hands behind her head, and sighed. She just couldn't shake the image of Draco and Pansy in the common room, snogging each other, and she was only going to double back to get her diary. The look on his face when she had glanced over her shoulder...

_Stop it Hermione_ she told herself. _Stop thinking about it._ She should've saw it coming. Of course, Draco had always liked Pansy, it shouldn't matter that he had possibly gotten back with her. Maybe he would be happier that way.

_Throb._

Hermione squeezed her eyes shut, trying to ignore the pain her heart had been inflicted with. But as much as she'd like to convince herself, something deep down inside her knew better. _He cares_ said a small voice in her head. He noticed the simple little pattern on her new earrings...he knew her favorite color...his eyes were much kinder than they used to be, his smile much more authentic, more real, his laugh too...and it was enough to make her heart nearly jump in her throat everytime he had shown any kind of affection for her..._I notice everything about you..._she could still feel his fingers tracing up her arm...

_Double throb._

Why did it hurt so much?

A sudden knock to the door made Hermione jump in fright. She sat up, wiping her eyes vigorously as she called out, "Yes?"

"Hermione, it's me."

Hermione's eyes widened in surprise at the recognition of Ron's voice. "Y-yes?" she stammered out.

"Can I...come in?" he asked hesitantly from the other side.

"I suppose," Hermione called, wiping her eyes one final time.

The door slowly opened and Ron appeared at the doorway. He was wearing the maroon sweater he always hated, which clashed magnificently with his flaming red hair. His blue eyes bored into hers, sympathetic like.

"Are you okay?" he asked, stepping in the room and closing the door behind her.

"I'm fine," said Hermione, failing to meet his eyes but instead looking over at the window.

Ron came over to her and sat a few inches away. "Hermione, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Look, I shouldn't have said all those things-"

"It's alright," Hermione interrupted.

"But you were right about Malfoy, he's-"

"No he isn't."

Ron's eyes widened in amazement as he looked over at Hermione, obviously shocked. "So...you don't have feelings for him?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. I never had. I thought, for a second, that he had changed. But I guess I was wrong. You were right Ron. I had been brainwashed in his plan."

Ron said nothing for a second but just reached over and squeezed her hand. "Well, you could expect that from him, Hermione. I hate to say I told you so, but...yeah. He hurt you pretty bad, I guess."

_He sure did_ Hermione thought to herself grimly.

Ron leaned over and kissed her. "I hope things haven't changed between _us_."

Hermione looked over at Ron and shook her head, trying to smile but only half-heartedly. "Of course not."

Ron smiled back at her. As they looked at each other, curiousity rose within Hermione, and she couldn't resist the question that was at the tip of her tongue.

"Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"What...what's my favorite color?" Hermione finally asked.

"Your favorite color?" Ron frowned slightly at the question but barely gave it a second thought. "Oh...green right? no wait...purple?"

Hermione's heart sank as she shook her head, her eyes rising in tears. "No."

"Hermione, are you sure you're okay?" Ron asked her, "Why did you ask that?"

Hermione left before giving him the opportunity to answer.

Ron stood up and made a move to the door, but then the ruffling of feathers from the window grabbed his attention. There was a small brown owl there, resembling the delivery owls that stay at Hogwarts. A roll of parchment was tied to its leg. Ron went over to it, untied the letter and the owl flew away. Ron read the front, which had Hermione's name scribbled on the front in sloppy looking writing. It was from-

Ron stared at the sender's name before glancing around the room and stuffing the letter inside his sweater.

Draco Malfoy was _not_ about to ruin his relationship with Hermione again, he guaranteed it.

-------------

"Erm...Draco?"

Draco snapped out of his daze to look across at his "best mates", Crabbe and Goyle, who were looking at him worriedly across the table at breakfast just that morning.

"You've been acting weird, mate," Goyle pressed on. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Draco said sharply, grabbing his goblet and taking a quick sip of the orange juice inside before throwing back on the table and taking a huge bite of bacon.

"Are you-"

"I said I'm fine!"

Goyle and Crabbe looked at each other reluctantly as the blonde stood up and headed out of the hall without another word. The two of them knew something was wrong with Draco, but they had no idea that it was about a certain Griffindor whom they thought he hated.

Hermione hadn't even wrote him back, and this irritated the blonde very much. He knew that she was mad, but she could've at least wrote him a reply back or something. I mean, why did she care _anyway_ that he was kissing Pansy? She wasn't his girlfriend, she was just a friend.

_Friend._

Something hit Draco deep in his chest as he headed towards the prefect dormintory. He thought about the time Hermione was gone, where he wrote the letter and lost sleep because he had been so hurt, feeling so guilty about her reduced to tears because of him. It hurt him just as much as he thought he had hurt her, and that's all he's thought about. A pang in his stomach surfaced as he remembered the way she had smiled at him on certain occasions, the times when she had laughed and actually had fun around him...

_Stop it_ he told himself, screwing his eyes shut for a split second as he tried hard to shake those memories out of his head, but they only seemed to flood in even worse. The way she had hugged him after he saved her from Vance..._Is your heart beating fast like mine?_ she had asked him (and his heart was beating fast at the moment). He knew her favorite color from her worst subject to her favorite book and her new earrings...the way she had fell asleep against his chest that night at the beach..._Malfoy's falling in love with me..._

"Damn it, that can't be the answer..." He murmured as he climbed the steps, approaching. _It is the answer_ his mind argued with him. _Stop denying it, that's why you can't stop thinking about her, that's why you feel so lonely right now..._

"NO!" The last few twigs snapped for the Slytherin, and before he knew it he had went over to the muggle concession stand and starting to toss, throw punch and totally tear up the place. He didn't understand. What would it take to make Hermione happy? How in the hell was he gonna make up with her? at the moment he just felt like grabbing her by the shoulders, shaking her and telling her how much pain she had put him in, how much he'd thought of her when he was gone, how much he loved her...

As the water bottle bounced off the wall and hit the floor, rolling away, Draco paused, breathing hard and staring down at the popcorn and the dented candy boxes scattered at his feet. It was then that everything hit him at full blast. He slid down the wall behind him, and for the first time in his life, a couple of tears began to run down his cheeks as he realized what he had felt so long ago, what had started to develop and now, it was something that he never thought he would feel.

_Damn it_ he thought to himself, burying his face in his hands. _Damn me for falling in love with her._


	15. Chapter 15

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have a perfectly logical explanation for this delayed update. See, what had happened was… I was moving, which some of you may know. But I had many opportunities to update this story, as I have always been updating it at school, so that reason is kind of wack. Sorry guys. I hope you think of this chapter as a way of apology.

In the meantime, I've decided that the story…WILL GO ON. I'll attempt to do something long. YAY ME!! (Hand claps) Kudos to anyone who can guess who said that. 

IDHY15

Hermione could've been mistakenly called Tonks for how many things she had dropped in trying to help Mrs. Weasley set up the dishes for Thanksgiving dinner. After finally tripping over the chair and accidentally breaking a plate, she was personally excused from the room by the red-haired woman to go and take some time to think. Hermione left with no hesitation, going to sit out in the beautiful garden backyard.

It was hard to focus on anything when you feel like your heart is going to explode with sadness, or your emotions were deeply hurt. Hermione sighed as she looked out into the stars. Her mind just couldn't seem to register the fact that she had really found what she could've called one of her best friends kissing on another girl. Why? She wondered. Why her, and not me?

Wait…did she _really_ want to be kissed by Draco?

"I thought I'd find you here, Miss Granger."

There was no denying the voice. Hermione looked around, seeing the large yellow F on the front of the sweater. "Fred?"

The Weasley twin sat down directly next to her. "I couldn't help but notice you've been distracted these last couple days."

Hermione sighed heavily. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It would help you," Fred offered. "Everyone needs to talk it out once in a while. Come on; tell Uncle Freddy what's wrong."

Seeing his boyish grin, Hermione couldn't help but smile herself. He had good intentions for her (and why, she didn't know), and he seemed willing to help her.

"Okay. Well, there's this guy…"

"Draco Malfoy?" Fred guessed.

Hermione's mouth dropped to the floor. "How'd-"

"Ginny was in a heaping mess a while ago," Fred told her. "She'd been crying over the fact that you'd been ignoring her and Harry since you got here."

Hermione instantly felt guilty. "Are they okay now?"

"Yeah, they're both upstairs doing God knows what," Fred said, waving off the issue with a hand. "But let's get back to you and Malfoy. So…"

"So Draco and I had been friends for a while now," Hermione continued. "Just a day or so ago, I seen him in the common room, kissing Pansy. I ran out of there as fast as I could."

She had found it hard to say those words, since the pain she had felt remembering the scene had came back. Fred though, looked as calm as any old day.

"So why did you run out of there?" he asked. "What exactly were you feeling at the moment?"

"Hurt and betrayed," said Hermione.

"Why?" Fred inquired.

"Because…" That was a good question. Hermione didn't even know the answer, so she didn't say anything.

"Perhaps because you wanted a certain someone for yourself," Fred offered.

At this point it seemed possible. Hermione shrugged half-heartedly in response.

"Hermione, did it ever come in your mind that you could possibly have_ feelings_ for this so called friend of yours?" Fred asked.

"No," Hermione murmured. "I didn't think I _had _any feelings for him."

"Have you always called him Draco?"

It wasn't until he brought it to her attention that she realized she _had _called him Draco. As she looked over at Fred, everything really started to click together.

"You should rest on it," Fred advised as he stood up and offered her a hand. "In the meantime, I'll be exploding things in the room if you need me."

Hermione smiled as she followed Fred into the house, and up to Ginny's room. She crept in as silently as she could without waking her sleeping friend across from her. Sitting down on the bed gently, she looked out of the window, recollecting the conversation she'd just had with Fred.

She really didn't think she'd had any feelings for Draco, but she did. Now it all made sense why she felt what she felt when she saw him kissing Pansy, when she had spent all that time with him…

With a sigh, Hermione relaxed herself on the bed, muttering to herself, "Why did I ever fall in love with that boy...?"

X-x-x-x-x

"Hermione…._Hermione_…"

The brunette gave a slight grunt and rolled over opposite of the way she had been called. "Ginny, not now…"

"_HERMIONE WAKE UP YOU GIT_!"

Hearing the booming voice startled Hermione and sent her tumbling off the floor in surprise. She looked up, taking a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room until she saw a tall blonde-haired boy half illuminated through the moonlight pouring in the window. She gave a loud shriek of surprise.

"MALFOY?!?"

"SHH! Don't wake her, dummy!" Draco hissed, casting a glance over at the red-headed girl just a few feet away.

Hermione sat terrified on the floor, staring at Draco with wide eyes. "You…called me Hermione…"

"Well there's no use in calling you Granger," Draco replied calmly.

"How'd you get here?" she asked.

Draco reached inside the pocket of his robes and pulled out a rolled up sheet of parchment that Hermione easily identified.

"THE MARAUDERS MAP?" she looked at him disbelievingly. "Who…?"

"I have my sources," he told her, but Hermione had an inkling feeling who had given it to her.

"Why are you here?" Hermione asked finally as she sat back on the bed.

"Because…." He hesitated, before continuing. "I thought you wouldn't get my letter."

"Letter?" Hermione repeated blankly.

"The letter I wrote you," Draco said, frowning slightly. "You didn't get it?"

Hermione shook her head. "When did you send it to me?"

"Yesterday, around the same time that you arrived here."

At that moment rage began to bubble in the pit of the brunette's stomach. There could only be one reason why she didn't get her letter, and that reason had to be a certain red-head who had an awful nice streak of jealousy going on at the moment. And there was only one thing to do about that at the moment.

Hermione grabbed her wand off the night table, raised it in the air and said, "_Accio letter._"

Five seconds later, a slim envelope slipped through the crack under the door and shot straight into her outstretched hand. She looked at the front before looking up at Draco, and felt tears rise in her eyes.

Draco looked immediately worried. "What's wrong?"

"I don't even want to read it," Hermione told him in a near-sob. "I already know what's inside. I'm so sorry!"

Before Draco could say anything else, Hermione had jumped up and tackled him with a hug, sobbing hysterically. "Hermione…"

"I knew you didn't kiss her," she said finally after a moment of crying in his robes. "You tried to come after me…and I just didn't think. I wanted to think the worst, but there's no way, no bloody _way _you would kiss her after all we've been through."

There was a moment's silence before Hermione felt Draco's arms wrap tightly around her waist, burying his face in her hair. She could feel him shaking slightly, and she knew that he was crying.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," he said sharply, though his voice conveyed softness and caring. "You hear me?"

"I won't," Hermione promised, sniffing. "I'm so glad you came. I wasn't so sure how I was about to tell you that I loved you."

It came out accidentally, she realized a few moments afterwards. Draco's arms pulled away from her, only to grab her shoulders and pull her out at arms length.

"Excuse me?" Draco's eyebrows raised in interest.

"N-Nothing." Hermione's cheeks were burning redder and redder with every second.

"Did you just say-"

"_No_!"

"That you _loved_ me?"

"No, Draco!" she blurted out. The blonde in front of her laughed sincerely. "I meant Malfoy!" she added defensively, but she knew that it would be no good. _You were gonna tell him anyway, just go ahead and be a woman…_

"Fine."

Draco stopped laughing, smiling boyishly at her. "Fine what?"

"I admit it. I said I love you." Hermione failed to meet his eyes. Why now did he choose to tease and taunt her?

Draco put his hand underneath her chin and raised it, so that she had no other choice but to look at him. "Would it make it any better if I said I felt the same way?"

Hermione stared at him in surprise. "You…?"

"You know, you have a bit of drool on your chin." Draco pointed right in the middle of her chin.

"What? Where-" Hermione looked down without thinking.

Draco raised her chin again, but this time leaning forward and pressing his lips gently to hers.

Hermione could only stare at him in surprise, and amusement, as he pulled away. "You know, you are very slick, Mr. Malfoy."

"I know." Draco smiled at her. "So it's official now, I suppose."

"Yeah, I guess," Hermione said, feeling butterflies as the blonde reached for her hand.

"So, when are you gonna tell Weasley?" Draco asked, caressing the top of her hand with his thumb.

Hermione's stomach went spiraling down. She had completely forgotten about Ron. It wasn't going to be easy telling her friend that she was in love with the least likely person.

"You don't have to do it right away," Draco added quickly when he saw the look on her face. "But you should tell him before he finds out."

"I will," Hermione replied, trying to figure out how exactly she was going to achieve this.

"Well, it's been fun but I'm going to have to leave you now," Draco said as he stood up.

Without much thought, Hermione leaned forward and gave him a brief hug. "Please be safe."

"Don't worry, I will." He gradually let his hand slip away before throwing a leg out the window and pushing off to reach the tree and climb down.

Hermione sat on the ledge and watched as he crossed to the street. She saw him turn briefly to look up at her and give a small wave. She waved back, and he finally disappeared.

With a happy sigh, the brunette tucked the letter under her pillow and beamed over at Ginny. She would be sure to thank the two in the morning for what they did.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hopefully you all understood how Ginny and Harry helped Hermione out…I tried to make it as simple as possible without blurting it out. Anyway, sorry for the long update. I now have to resort to updating this story at school…(sighs) And I have no clue what to do for the next chapter, so bear with me until then!


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

The very next day came almost in the blink of an eye. It seemed as though Hermione had just laid down to rest before Ginny was hovering over her, shaking her shoulder gently.

"We have to pack," Ginny told the girl as she sat up.

"Why?" Hermione yawned, stretching her arms out.

"Because we're going back to Hogwarts…are you alright?" Ginny added in worriedly.

As Hermione looked into her friend's face, memories of the previous night flooded in her head and a smile formed on her face.

"Ginny…" she said cutely.

"What?"

"Oh you know what I mean," Hermione said, her smile growing wider as she began to put on her clothes. "What you and Harry did for me."

Ginny blinked. "Seriously. I have no effing clue what you're talking about."

Hermione looked up at her with a frown, just when a knock came to the door.

"Come in," Ginny called.

Harry stepped in the room, fully dressed in a grey "Fallen" T-shirt, some Levis jeans and some black and white Adidas. Since Hermione met him, he had been able to dress nicer than he usually did. "Mornin'."

"Draco came last night," Hermione told the two.

Harry and Ginny's mouths dropped wide open. "What?"

"He had the Marauder's map," Hermione said, looking over at Harry.

Harry shook his head. "Dunno how he got it, I never gave it to him."

Hermione's stomach began to sink. Did Draco actually steal the map away from Harry's possession?

"Don't start thinking irrationally!" Ginny said quickly when she saw the look on Hermione's face. "There could be an explanation for it…maybe Ron gave it to him or something."

"Ron?" Hermione scoffed. "Gin, be serious."

Ginny shrugged. "You never know."

It could be possible, but it was such a little chance that the actual number probably didn't exist. The three of them stood there, pondering…did Ron actually give Draco the map, or did the Slytherin use his conniving ways to steal it?

X-x-x-x-x-x-x

A far distance away in Hogwarts sat a blonde Slytherin in the prefect common room, munching on snacks from the Muggle Concession stand and waiting for a certain someone to arrive. He'd been up since 6 and only had about a half hour left to wait, in the middle of breakfast.

He found himself getting no sleep whatsoever do to the events that had happened to him the previous night. What kind of person could sleep after just telling their long awaited love interest their true feelings?

Just as he'd been thinking solely on her, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. The squeaky pattern on them could only be identified with one person. Draco stood to his feet, waiting. As soon as he saw the sleek, brown hair he jumped and tackled the girl to the floor.

Hermione shrieked as all of her stuff dropped from her hands and she collapsed to the floor. She began to laugh when she saw Draco's innocent, playful expression.

"Well geez, you could've let me put my stuff up first," she said, smiling as Draco got up.

"No way." Draco offered his hand to her. She accepted it, and he pulled her up and straight into a very affectionate embrace.

Hermione smiled as he buried his face inside her hair. She rested her head against his chest, returning the hug. "I missed you too."

The two had barely lasted five seconds until footsteps began climbing up the stairs, and by the time they had surfaced into the common room it was too late for Draco and Hermione to move away.

Hermione peered over Draco's arm to see that Ron was standing there, gazing at them. She opened her mouth to speak, but Ron looked away and walked right past her as though he didn't see anything. "Ron, I-"

"Hey, Weasley." Draco removed his arms from Hermione to head over to the red-head. "Look, I never said thanks but…"

"No, it's fine," Ron assured him, though his face read something else, "Really. Just take good care of her, alright?"

"Don't worry, I will." Then surprising Hermione even further, Draco extended his hand out to Ron. Ron looked at it for a few seconds before shaking it.

"Ron, what's going on?" Hermione said, looking back and forth between the boys.

The two of them looked at Hermione, each other, then back at Hermione.

"You remember when I came up to see you with the Marauder's map, right?" Draco asked.

Hermione then gasped as she put two and two together. "You mean…"

"I gave it to him," Ron spoke up, not meeting her eyes. "I realized how much you missed him over break, and so you know the old saying, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'. Don't tell Harry I stole it from him, though. I put it back in his stuff before he noticed."

Hermione didn't even know what to begin to say. "Ron…"

"I only directed my anger towards you because I knew you liked Draco. I was getting frustrated. But now I realize that I can't keep doing that because I'm hurting you. And friends don't hurt each other." Ron finally had the nerve to look up into her eyes, guilt written all over his face. "I never intentionally meant to hurt you, Hermione. Please believe me."

Hermione just looked at him for a moment before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around his waist. Ron returned the embrace almost instantly. Draco could see a tear sliding down his cheek, and he couldn't help but feel an ounce of guilt himself. Hermione _was_ the girl that he had loved all this time, and to lose her must've been the worst feeling in the world.

"Ron I could never hold a grudge against you." Hermione pulled away, smiling sadly at him. "I still love you like a brother."

Ron nodded, wiping away the tear that had threatened to fall from his chin. Of course that wouldn't be enough for him, but that was the best Hermione had for him.

"But there is one condition," Hermione said, looking between the two of them.

"What?" Draco and Ron looked at her curiously.

"You two must try to at least get along," Hermione said firmly.

Ron and Draco looked over at each other for a while. It looked as though they were having a telekinetic conversation. Finally, they turned to look back at Hermione and nodded.

"If it'll make you happy," said Draco. "But if he calls me Draco, I will have no choice but to slap him."

Hermione giggled as Ron scowled at the blonde. "Thanks you two. Now let's get to breakfast, shall we?"

The three of them headed down the stairs and out of sight, just when a girl came out of her room, a wide smirk on her face.

_Draco's gonna pay… _Pansy thought, her smirk growing pronounced as she too went down the stairs.

**A/N: **Did I have you all fooled? :-) Sorry that it took me so long. I can't promise that the next one will be sooner, but I'll try with all my might to get it done. School's tying me up and I'm not quite sure what to do with the next chapter...just stay tuned, ok? :-)


	17. Chapter 17

I Don't Hate You

A/N: Oh. My. God. I'm _so _sorry for not updating in so long. You had no idea how stuck I was on creating this chapter. Literally, every day I was thinking 'what am I gonna add?' But then I just thought of a random yet interesting set up to keep the story flowing. Just read and let me know what you think. In the meantime, the next update will not take this long, trust me.

NOTE: You will see some other Prefects mentioned in the story. All the prefects as you know share one big prefect dormintory...I just failed to mention the others until now. Lol. Sorry. Anyways, continue on!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of its trademark characters. J.K. Rowling does though, sadly...

Chapter 17

"Malfoy, get your elbow off my book."

"My elbow's not on your book."

"Yes it is! look...right there."

"Oh wow, I didn't notice one-eighth of my elbow in your way."

"_Move it_."

"You didn't say the magic word."

"You mean _stupify_?"

The two would've went even further had it not been for Madam Pince, the librarian, hovering over their shoulders and glaring at them. "Silence in the library, boys."

The look on their faces made it almost impossible for Hermione, Ginny and Harry to hold in their laughter. The five were sitting in the library, trying to finish the latest Potions essay dealing with hypnosis potions late at night. Draco found himself suggesting that they all go to the library and help each other out. He now realized it was a mistake considering Ron still treated him like a villian.

"Happy now Weasley? you got me in trouble," Draco snapped quietly as Madam Pince headed away.

"I thought you'd be used to it by now," Ron retorted.

Draco smirked. "You know, you're lucky I'm so faithful to my word right now. I'll just pretend you didn't say that."

He caught Hermione's eye and she beamed at him. There was nothing better to him now then making her happy. Seeing her smile just made him complete for the rest of the day.

"Um, Draco?" Ginny spoke up. "Sorry to interrupt you two, but are you _sure_ it's alright to be here? especially at this time?"

"Yeah, I mean, what about...you know?" Harry added hesitantly.

Hermione's smile then faded off her face, and Draco found himself annoyed at the other two for bringing it up.

"I don't really care if they were around," he said shortly. "They're _not_ my friends."

"And we are?" Ron looked around at them all bewildered.

"Yes." Ginny raised her eyebrow questioningly at him. "Ron, it's been a week and a half, would it kill you to be nice?"

"I think so."

Draco couldn't help but grin. "You know Weasley? you're annoying as hell, but you're alright."

"Oh yeah?" Draco saw the corners of Ron's mouth turn upwards slightly, as if he were about to smile, but then it dropped back down. Hopefully the bitter feelings the red-head had for him would diminish soon. The two of them would be a powerful team if they were on each other's side. "I guess you're not all that bad yourself, Malfoy."

"Now you may kiss the bride," Harry joked.

Both Draco and Ron scowled at Harry while the other girls giggled. Draco wouldn't mind Ron being nice, but _that_ would be crossing the line.

Hermione gave one long sigh as she closed her books. "I can't do this anymore. I'm taking a break," she added as Harry, Ron, Ginny and Draco all threw her bewildered looks. "Is that a bad thing?"

"But you never take breaks, Hermione," Ron informed her. "I think you'd rather die than spend a night not studying."

"Which I think will eventually kill her," Draco added, and Ron shook his head in agreement.

Hermione would've normally been mad, but she was too busy appreciating the moment the two boys just shared together. Instead, she just chucked as she stood up with a stretch. "I think we could all go for a bit of a break."

"I think I could go for a nap right now," Harry added with a yawn. "I'm headed to bed."

He gave Ginny a look. Ginny caught his glance and clearing her throat, started to collect her stuff too. "Yeah, I'm tired...See you guys tomorrow!"

And before the others could even get a chance to speak, Harry and Ginny were gone. It was obvious the two wanted to be alone together. Draco looked over at Ron. "Are you staying? I would like some alone time with my girlfriend if you don't mind."

He stood up wrapped an arm around her waist, giving Hermione butterflies in her stomach.

"Um, yeah? You think I'd really do something stupid like leave?" Ron stood up too. "Who knows what you might attempt while I'm away!"

"Things you certainly weren't capable of when you had a chance!" Draco snapped.

A few minutes later, all three of them were kicked out of the library for causing a disturbance. Not only that, but the two continued to bicker loudly in the hallway on the way to the Prefect dormintory. Hermione stayed only a few feet behind them, trying to pretend like she didn't know them when passerbys would gaze curiously at the scene. She walked passed the boys as they stopped in the middle of the hall to fight and went straight to the dormintory.

_What was the point in shaking hands and telling me they would get along? _Hermione rolled her eyes as she acended the stair case. _Well, I guess having them get along would've been more awkward._

She was so concentrated on her thoughts, she didn't notice the figure as she arrived inside the Prefect common room. The next thing she knew, she was thrown on her back across the floor, a dark heavy shape on top of her. "What the-"

"Excuse me, were you saying something Miss Granger?" Through the few candles that were lit in the room, Hermione recgonized the shape and voice easily as Pansy Parkinson. She shoved Pansy off of her and scrambled to her feet.

"What the bloody hell is your problem?" Hermione hissed.

"Don't think for a minute that you and Draco are gonna have a happily-ever-after," said Pansy, her voice dark and demeaning. "Because while I'm still alive, I'll make sure that you'll regret stealing him away from me."

"Steal? He didn't even want you to begin with!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Just _stay away_ from him," Pansy threatened.

"Um, I'm sort of his girlfriend, which _you _failed to be, so I can't do that," Hermione said bitterly.

Pansy stepped toward Hermione. "You-"

"Won't do a thing."

Hermione and Pansy both turned to see Hufflepuff student Ernie MacMillian walking into the common room, followed closely by his co-prefect, Hannah Abbott. The two of them strolled in front of Hermione, guarding her from view of Pansy.

"You wanna mess with her, then you gotta go through us first," Ernie told her.

"Choose." Hannah crossed her arms as she glared at the Slytherin.

Hermione couldn't help but feel amused by it all as Pansy stepped back. "So I see that Granger can't fight her own battles...Alright. But this isn't over Granger."

Pansy retreated back to her room. Hermione sighed with relief as Ernie and Hannah turned to her. "Thanks you guys. I don't know how on earth I would've managed to fight her anyway."

"A few times in the face aught to do it," Hannah added jokingly. "But anyways, I'm off to bed. 'Night Hermione, 'Night Ernie."

She also went to her room, leaving Hermione and Ernie standing there by themselves.

"Were Ron and Draco fighting in the hallways?" Hermione asked.

Ernie nodded. "I think McGonagall heard them though. I saw her fly past me. But look...is that girl giving you trouble?"

Hermione sighed heavily. "A little. She's just mad because Draco doesn't like her."

"Well, if you ever need her to back off, then feel free to come get me, I'll take care of her for you," Ernie told her as he gave a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, thanks Ernie." There was a funny look in Ernie's eyes as he looked at her, making Hermione feel slightly uneasy. And the way he patted her on the shoulder randomly made her even more confused.

"No problem." His hand slid a few inches down her arm, a little bit too affectionate for comfort, before pulling away. "But I'm going to sleep too. Catch you later?"

Hermione nodded, too baffled to talk as she watched Ernie walk away. What was that about? Why did he look so hopeful before he walked away? Or maybe she was just being paranoid about it...

The sound of distant bickering brought Hermione back to reality and she turned just in time to see Draco and Ron emerge into the room, their ears being yanked on rather forcefully by Professor McGonagall.

"Now unless you two want a month's worth of detention, I would rather you shut your mouths at this moment," she snapped at them. "Miss Granger, I'd advise you to keep this boys on good terms before they get themselves kicked out of the school."

Draco just scowled as The Professor let go of his and Ron's ear and left the common room. He turned to Hermione, his features softening as he came over to her. "Hermione, Weasley said the most _horrible _things to me, he-are you alright?"

"W-What do you mean?" Hermione asked nervously.

"You look flushed."

"I'm just tired," Hermione said a little too quickly.

Ron and Draco gazed at her suspiciously.

"Really," she urged them. "I'm tired. I was waiting for you two to stop fighting before I said goodnight."

"Oh. Goodnight then." Draco leaned over to capture her lips.

The two of them would've stayed there if it was not for Ron clearing his throat loudly out of awkwardness. Hermione giggled as she hugged him goodnight and went in her room, her mind racing with thoughts, the main one being Ernie and what his _true _intentions were.

A/N: Okay So how was that? not bad after all that time, right? I'll try to add more interaction other than Hermione and Draco though so the story doesn't just revolve around them. Again, I'm sorry for the late update. As usual, review and tell me what's on your mind.


	18. Chapter 18

**_"I Dont Hate You"_**

**A/N: **Back! Did ya miss me? This was just a completely random chapter by the way. No plot development at all, except the feelings Hermione and Draco have for each other. I didn't know what to write, sorry. Plus, it gives me a moment to think about what I could do about Ernie and Pansy...Any ideas? I strongly need them, and don't hesitate to tell. Otherwise, Enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 18**

The next morning, Hermione woke up bright and early as she usually did. She was about to sit up and stretch when she noticed a heavy arm wrapped around her waist. She turned her head slightly to see Draco's face just a few inches away from her own.

"Mornin'," He greeted.

Hermione replied by shrieking and tumbling out of the bed in surprise. "D-Draco! W-what are you doing in here?"

"Well geez, can I not sleep with my girlfriend? No, not like that," he said quickly when he noticed Hermione's horrified look. "I just couldn't go to sleep alone last night." He threw the covers off him self and crawled over the bed to peer down at her. Hermione's eyes drifted down to Draco's bare torso, lavishing in the sight of his flawless abdomen. Without much thought, she raised her hand up, and lightly traced her finger around each muscle. It was firm, yet soft and very comforting. This was something she had wanted to do for the longest time.

She finally realized what she was doing and met her eyes with Draco, who had been staring at her the whole time. She blushed heavily as she pulled away her hand. "Sorry…"

"No, it's okay," Draco told her. "It felt good." He smiled at her as he stealthily slinked his body from the bed, and to the floor, so that he was how hovering over her body. "You can keep doing it if you want."

"Okay." Hermione smiled. "Or maybe I can do this…" She started to lean upwards, closer to his face. Draco looked at her in surprise. _Is she really going to kiss me? FIRST? _His mind began to race as she grew even closer, and he closed his eyes, anxiously waiting for it…

But then suddenly his body was wrapped with blankets and he found himself wrapped in them, on his back, and Hermione was suddenly straddling his body now. She began to giggle when she saw the horrified look on his face. "You're so easy, Draco."

Draco couldn't help but smile. "That's one of the few times you've actually caught me off guard."

"No, actually it's the second," Hermione pointed out. "Remember that time in third year I punched you in the nose?"

Draco rolled his eyes. "I _saw_ that coming."

"Sure you did," Hermione said sarcastically.

"You know, you always have to be right, don't you?" Draco asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, I do," Hermione said with a false snooty voice, crossing her arms. A few seconds later she shrieked again, but cheerfully as Draco attacked her sides with tickles, making her collapse back first into the floor. After her round of giggles was over, she noticed Draco on top of her. "Okay you win, _Malfoy_."

"Thanks, _Granger_," Draco returned, smiling.

Hermione smiled back. There was no way Draco was pretending at this point, or neither did she think the old him could put up a charade this long. He didn't care if his friends saw her anymore. And apparently he didn't care about the opinion of his father, whom resented Muggle borns with a passion. Eventually she'd have to deal with him later. She snapped out of her thoughts to realize that she had been staring up at Draco, and he had been staring at her back. And judging from the look on his face, she knew what was coming next. And she made no attempt to stop him as he leaned forward and kissed her gently. What started as a simple, innocent kiss developed into a fiery passionate one moments later. Hermione surprised herself by interacting back, feeling emotions that she'd never felt before. Was Draco bringing out a side of her she never knew she had?

She could feel his fingers snaking through her brown locks as his tongue made its way to her mouth. Her stomach churned, and she tensed for a second, but she realized that she was safe with Draco and gave a labored sigh as she allowed him to take control. They broke away from each other's lips, getting their breath back while Draco's lips lowered to her neck. Draco heard Hermione's small gasp as he began to work his magic. But only seconds later she had melted like butter against him, her fingers running smoothly up and down her back. The space in his boxers suddenly felt constricted, and he was surprised that only her touch could make him do that. He felt as if he was just about to move on when Hermione suddenly stopped him by pushing him back gently.

"What's wrong?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

"Um…" Hermione began to blush. "You're…"

He knew instantly what she was talking about. "Only _you_ could do it," he told her shamelessly.

"But I didn't do anything," Hermione protested.

"You didn't have to," Draco said softly. Hermione blushed even deeper and continued to look embarrassed. Draco smiled as he leaned down to kiss her forehead gently. "If you're not comfortable with this, then we'll stop," he added as he pulled away from her.

Hermione felt instantly guilty as she sat up, grabbing his arm. "Wait, Draco. Please, its not you…"

"I know." Draco looked over at her. "Maybe I shouldn't have pushed this on you so much. It's my fault, really."

Hermione leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm sorry."

Draco hugged her back, trying (and probably failing) to hide his disappointment. "Yeah. Me too." He wished that Hermione hadn't stopped him while they were already on a roll. But he had forgotten that she'd never done this kind of stuff before. Lucky for him, he was more than willing to wait for her until she was more comfortable.

Hermione was still embracing Draco when she suddenly froze with a gasp. "Draco! We've got to get to class!"

Hermione jerked away from him and began to search for her clothes. She'd momentarily forgotten that Draco was there and began to strip herself of her night gown and throw on her school clothes. Surely Snape would have their rears today.

When she'd finally dressed she turned and saw Draco sitting on the bed, looking at her in amusement. There was a moment of staring when finally, Draco exploded into hysterical laughter, doubling over and clutching his stomach for support. She stared at him in confusion until the laughter subsided.

"Sat…Saturday," he said breathlessly, looking at her. "No…classes…" He wiped a tear from his eye as Hermione gaped at him. "But thanks for that little show though, it made me feel better," he added with a wink.

Hermione growled as she grabbed a pillow off the bed and smacked him as hard as she could in the face with it. "You _git_! You didn't bother to tell me?!"

"It was so hilarious," Draco admitted, holding his hands up in self defense as Hermione was poised to hit him again. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry!"

"No!" Hermione smacked him with the pillow, and then again, and again. She was going for another time when Draco suddenly grabbed her wrist with one hand, grabbed her waist with the other and dragged her over to the bed. The two of them ended up laughing together and a few minutes later, Hermione's head was on Draco's chest, playing with his abs again.

"You know, I'm glad we met," she admitted, her fingertips tracing his muscles again.

"Yeah, me too," Draco replied softly.

Hermione continued to trace around his muscles until she noticed his breathing had gotten deeper. She sat up and looked around to see that Draco had fallen asleep, his face completely lax and stress relief. She stared at him, thinking about how lucky she was to have a caring boyfriend such as him. But she already knew the road to their relationship was gonna be even rockier than it was.

_I'm willing to sacrifice, _she thought with a teeny smile. She leaned over and kissed his cheek gently. The corners of his lips turned up slightly into a smile of his own. Hermione giggled as she rested her head back on his chest and gradually fell back to sleep alongside him.

**A/N: **Awww, don't you love fluff? Anyway, I'm reminding you that I'm really open to suggestions now, if you have any, about Ernie and Pansy. I'm kind of stuck with them. (That's what I get for being random, right?) But anyway, please review on the chapter you just read. Thanks!


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